Caris Life Sciences (NASDAQ:CAI) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Caris Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAI)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $32.00 to $33.00. The stock had previously closed at $16.45, but opened at $19.00. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. Caris Life Sciences shares last traded at $19.4260, with a volume of 1,559,570 shares.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Caris Life Sciences from $35.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on shares of Caris Life Sciences in a research report on Friday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $21.00 price target on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Caris Life Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Caris Life Sciences from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird set a $22.00 target price on shares of Caris Life Sciences in a report on Friday, May 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jeff L. Vacirca acquired 31,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $16.15 per share, with a total value of $501,457.50. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 49,671 shares in the company, valued at $802,186.65. This represents a 166.75% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jon Halbert purchased 68,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $14.56 per share, for a total transaction of $990,080.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 704,598 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,258,946.88. This represents a 10.68% increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 50.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Caris Life Sciences

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Caris Life Sciences by 36.4% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 449,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,044,000 after acquiring an additional 120,000 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG raised its position in Caris Life Sciences by 825.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 2,183,980 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,924,000 after purchasing an additional 1,948,107 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale acquired a new position in Caris Life Sciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,942,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Caris Life Sciences by 2,348.6% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 598,712 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,705,000 after purchasing an additional 574,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Caris Life Sciences by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 305,911 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,470,000 after purchasing an additional 63,132 shares in the last quarter.

Caris Life Sciences Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $18.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 6.52 and a current ratio of 5.53. The stock has a market cap of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.17 and a beta of 0.68.

Caris Life Sciences announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, June 8th that allows the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 2.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

About Caris Life Sciences

Caris Life Sciences (NASDAQ: CAI) is a molecular science company focused on advancing precision medicine in oncology. The company develops and delivers comprehensive molecular profiling services designed to identify actionable biomarkers across DNA, RNA and protein modalities. Its clinical services are intended to support oncologists in treatment decision-making by matching patients to targeted therapies, immunotherapies and relevant clinical trials based on tumor biology.

Caris provides laboratory-based diagnostic testing and related interpretive reports, combining high-throughput sequencing and other molecular technologies with bioinformatic analysis.