CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Price Up 0.8% – Still a Buy?

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) shares were up 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $42.58 and last traded at $41.55. Approximately 382,212 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 1,904,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.21.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CRSP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, December 30th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.38.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 2.0 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.86 and a beta of 1.68. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $43.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.42.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.42) by $0.41. The company had revenue of $0.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($1.41) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 30,000 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.62, for a total value of $1,668,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 196,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,931,554.80. The trade was a 13.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 68,739 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,706,000 after acquiring an additional 2,971 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 5,269.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 83,010 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,267,000 after purchasing an additional 81,464 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 310,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,212,000 after purchasing an additional 9,681 shares during the period. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 20,636 shares of the company’s stock valued at $812,000 after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Finally, Tyche Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $328,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

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.