CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Price Up 2.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) rose 2.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $88.00 to $89.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. CRISPR Therapeutics traded as high as $57.19 and last traded at $57.11. Approximately 273,490 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 1,825,960 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.56.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Barclays raised their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $61.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Chardan Capital lifted their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research started coverage on CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 15th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, TheStreet upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $1,607,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 187,377 shares in the company, valued at $15,057,615.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raju Prasad sold 3,524 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.69, for a total transaction of $256,159.56. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $470,740.44. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 20,000 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total value of $1,607,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 187,377 shares in the company, valued at $15,057,615.72. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 133,992 shares of company stock worth $9,157,835 over the last quarter. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CRSP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 158.5% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,014,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848,437 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,536,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $534,360,000 after buying an additional 1,372,986 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 228.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,569,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after buying an additional 1,092,384 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 79.2% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,278,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,038,000 after buying an additional 1,007,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 261.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,217,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,410,000 after buying an additional 880,463 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.89 billion, a P/E ratio of -28.61 and a beta of 1.76. The company has a fifty day moving average of $73.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.34.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.95. The firm had revenue of $201.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.72 million. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3253.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($1.41) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -6.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

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.