Guggenheim Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM)

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by Guggenheim in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $78.00 target price on the stock. Guggenheim’s target price indicates a potential upside of 170.50% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on BEAM. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Beam Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Leerink Partners raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.90.

Beam Therapeutics Trading Up 3.4 %

Shares of Beam Therapeutics stock traded up $0.95 during trading on Thursday, hitting $28.84. 309,246 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,269,020. Beam Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $20.84 and a 1-year high of $45.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.45 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.91.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.25) by $0.16. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. The firm had revenue of $30.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.73 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 90.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 908,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,306,628.25. This trade represents a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Christine Bellon sold 1,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $30,627.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,968 shares in the company, valued at $2,541,250.24. The trade was a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BEAM. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 59.7% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,552,829 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,044,000 after buying an additional 1,328,414 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,068,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,287,000 after buying an additional 536,930 shares during the period. Casdin Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 61.3% during the fourth quarter. Casdin Capital LLC now owns 1,250,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000,000 after acquiring an additional 475,000 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 12.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,929,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $96,274,000 after acquiring an additional 437,402 shares during the period. Finally, Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,957,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,109,000 after acquiring an additional 404,782 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.68% of the company’s stock.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.