Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday.

BEAM has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Bank of America reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Tudor Pickering set a $39.00 price target on Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on Beam Therapeutics from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday, August 10th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Beam Therapeutics Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of Beam Therapeutics stock opened at $26.57 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a P/E ratio of -30.89 and a beta of 2.23. The company has a quick ratio of 14.57, a current ratio of 14.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.74. Beam Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $15.60 and a 12-month high of $38.26.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($1.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.11) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $0.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.37 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 54.75% and a negative return on equity of 30.71%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 94.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($1.00) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Beam Therapeutics news, insider Amy Simon sold 16,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.74, for a total value of $429,008.58. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 85,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,205,815.04. This trade represents a 16.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Fmr Llc sold 251,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $8,867,466.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 854,583 shares in the company, valued at $30,132,596.58. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 301,527 shares of company stock worth $10,468,500 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BEAM. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new position in Beam Therapeutics during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. bought a new stake in Beam Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich acquired a new stake in Beam Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 4,370.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 1,923 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 48.7% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. 99.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: BEAM) is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing precision genetic medicines through its pioneering base editing platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional research facilities in Philadelphia, the company focuses on engineering molecular editors capable of making precise single-nucleotide changes in DNA. By harnessing its proprietary base editing technology, Beam aims to correct or disrupt disease-causing genetic variants at their source, offering the potential for novel therapies in areas with significant unmet medical need.

Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from Harvard University and the Broad and Whitehead Institutes, Beam was co-founded by leading academic researcher David R.