Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Silence Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:SLN) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $45.00 to $49.00. The stock had previously closed at $19.00, but opened at $20.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Silence Therapeutics shares last traded at $19.56, with a volume of 4,998 shares trading hands.

SLN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Chardan Capital boosted their price objective on shares of Silence Therapeutics from $42.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silence Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vivo Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Silence Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $8,862,000. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 20.8% during the 4th quarter. Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC now owns 232,942 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,046,000 after acquiring an additional 40,063 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $110,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics during the 1st quarter valued at $13,575,000. Finally, Lynx1 Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Silence Therapeutics by 123.4% in the 1st quarter. Lynx1 Capital Management LP now owns 526,642 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,375,000 after purchasing an additional 290,855 shares during the period. 98.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Silence Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $21.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $20.95. The company has a market capitalization of $568.63 million, a PE ratio of -16.38 and a beta of 1.34.

Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 16th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $15.73 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.53 million. Silence Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 79.90% and a negative net margin of 131.44%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Silence Therapeutics plc will post -1.52 EPS for the current year.

About Silence Therapeutics

Silence Therapeutics plc, a biotechnology company, focuses on the discovery and development novel molecules incorporating short interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) to inhibit the expression of specific target genes in hematology, cardiovascular, and rare diseases. The company's mRNAi GalNAc Oligonucleotide Discovery platform consists of precision engineered product candidates designed to target specific disease-associated genes in the liver.