CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $78.38.

Several research firms recently weighed in on CRSP. StockNews.com upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, December 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $94.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, December 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total transaction of $826,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 181,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,002,854. The trade was a 7.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRSP. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 4.0% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 18,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $994,000 after buying an additional 703 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 2.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 950,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,326,000 after buying an additional 19,094 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 4.3% during the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 10,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $583,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 13.2% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 4,167 shares of the company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 486 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,449,000. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

CRSP stock opened at $43.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.34 and a beta of 1.68. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $91.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $44.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $47.68.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.42) by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $0.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.65 million. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 12.15% and a negative net margin of 118.13%. During the same period last year, the business posted ($1.41) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.