Benchmark Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA)

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at Benchmark in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $15.00 target price on the stock. Benchmark’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 117.39% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on HUMA. BTIG Research raised their price target on Humacyte from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Humacyte in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $8.60.

Humacyte Stock Performance

Shares of HUMA stock traded down $1.01 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $6.90. The stock had a trading volume of 5,095,612 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,133,323. The firm has a market cap of $821.68 million, a PE ratio of -6.61 and a beta of 1.52. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 8.37 and a quick ratio of 8.37. Humacyte has a fifty-two week low of $1.96 and a fifty-two week high of $9.97.

Humacyte (NASDAQ:HUMA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 10th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.23) by ($0.06). Sell-side analysts anticipate that Humacyte will post -0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 809,786 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.91, for a total value of $6,405,407.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 5,381,354 shares in the company, valued at $42,566,510.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Humacyte news, CEO Laura E. Niklason sold 809,786 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.91, for a total transaction of $6,405,407.26. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 5,381,354 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,566,510.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gordon M. Binder acquired 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $6.78 per share, with a total value of $339,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 160,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,084,800. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 54,412 shares of company stock valued at $369,107 and sold 1,628,820 shares valued at $12,464,121. 23.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Humacyte by 693.0% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 600,300 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,881,000 after acquiring an additional 524,600 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Humacyte by 15.4% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 366,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,760,000 after purchasing an additional 48,976 shares in the last quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Humacyte by 3.1% in the second quarter. Endowment Wealth Management Inc. now owns 100,518 shares of the company’s stock valued at $482,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Humacyte by 87.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 110,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $532,000 after purchasing an additional 51,858 shares in the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Humacyte in the second quarter worth about $28,000. 44.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Humacyte

Humacyte, Inc engages in the development and manufacture of off-the-shelf, implantable, and bioengineered human tissues for the treatment of diseases and conditions across a range of anatomic locations in multiple therapeutic areas. The company using its proprietary and scientific technology platform to engineer and manufacture human acellular vessels (HAVs) to be implanted into patient without inducing a foreign body response or leading to immune rejection.