Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on BNTC. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of Benitec Biopharma from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 14th. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Benitec Biopharma from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, JMP Securities set a $22.00 target price on shares of Benitec Biopharma in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.25.

Benitec Biopharma Stock Performance

Benitec Biopharma stock opened at $10.38 on Friday. Benitec Biopharma has a fifty-two week low of $9.80 and a fifty-two week high of $17.15. The stock has a market cap of $356.55 million, a P/E ratio of -9.11 and a beta of 0.26. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $12.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.18.

Benitec Biopharma (NASDAQ:BNTC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.03). On average, analysts predict that Benitec Biopharma will post -1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Benitec Biopharma

In other news, Director Suvretta Capital Management, L bought 77,387 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 29th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $13.44 per share, with a total value of $1,040,081.28. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 9,700,195 shares in the company, valued at $130,370,620.80. This represents a 0.80% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have acquired 190,364 shares of company stock valued at $2,442,105 over the last quarter. 4.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Benitec Biopharma

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nantahala Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Benitec Biopharma by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Nantahala Capital Management LLC now owns 1,038,371 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,987,000 after acquiring an additional 200,276 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Benitec Biopharma by 2.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 992,114 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $13,919,000 after purchasing an additional 22,948 shares during the last quarter. Siren L.L.C. purchased a new position in Benitec Biopharma during the 4th quarter valued at about $10,439,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Benitec Biopharma during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,102,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Benitec Biopharma by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 453,375 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,109,000 after purchasing an additional 14,870 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.19% of the company’s stock.

Benitec Biopharma Company Profile

Benitec Biopharma Ltd (NASDAQ: BNTC) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene-silencing therapies for serious human diseases. The company’s proprietary DNA-directed RNA interference (ddRNAi) platform is designed to enable sustained expression of small RNA molecules that specifically target and silence disease-causing genes. By integrating RNAi sequences directly into DNA constructs, ddRNAi aims to provide a long-term therapeutic effect from a single administration.

Benitec’s lead programs include development of ddRNAi candidates for chronic hepatitis B virus infection and for certain ocular conditions.