CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Trading Down 0.2% After Analyst Downgrade

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) fell 0.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Citigroup lowered their price target on the stock from $89.00 to $84.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. CRISPR Therapeutics traded as low as $55.21 and last traded at $55.61. 176,023 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 1,710,487 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.73.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CRSP. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $46.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 10th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $90.00 to $88.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 2,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.26, for a total value of $219,206.26. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 60,070 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,701,078.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,802 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.26, for a total value of $767,104.52. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 203,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,941,953.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 2,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.26, for a total transaction of $219,206.26. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 60,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,701,078.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 55,709 shares of company stock valued at $3,865,228 in the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRSP. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 21,284 shares of the company’s stock worth $966,000 after buying an additional 1,015 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 112,169 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,091,000 after buying an additional 6,207 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 12.3% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,654 shares of the company’s stock worth $254,000 after buying an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 12.5% during the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 20.0% during the 3rd quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 7,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.31 and a beta of 1.80. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.51.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($1.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.35) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $0.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.67) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 99.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.64 earnings per share for the current year.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.