Absci’s (ABSI) “Buy” Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 131.02% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Absci from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.32 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on shares of Absci from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.66.

Absci Price Performance

Shares of Absci stock opened at $3.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.19. Absci has a 12 month low of $2.01 and a 12 month high of $5.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $455.62 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.37 and a beta of 2.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Absci news, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 8,334,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,920,355.33. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares of Absci stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the purchase, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. This trade represents a 31.11% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Absci

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ABSI. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Absci by 14.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 54,550 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,000 after buying an additional 6,826 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd raised its position in Absci by 380.9% in the fourth quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 136,874 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after acquiring an additional 108,413 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Absci by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 410,124 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,431,000 after acquiring an additional 32,267 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP acquired a new stake in Absci in the fourth quarter valued at $7,450,000. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Absci during the 4th quarter worth $8,201,000. 52.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Absci

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.