Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) Upgraded to Buy by Jefferies Financial Group

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) was upgraded by investment analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Briefing.com reports. The firm currently has a $35.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $2.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 89.19% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Assembly Biosciences in a research report on Thursday, June 20th.

Assembly Biosciences Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of ASMB stock opened at $18.50 on Friday. Assembly Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $7.69 and a fifty-two week high of $20.04. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.42.

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.96) by $0.98. The company had revenue of $8.53 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.96 million. On average, analysts forecast that Assembly Biosciences will post -7.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Assembly Biosciences

In other Assembly Biosciences news, major shareholder Alexander Schornstein acquired 4,438 shares of Assembly Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $12.52 per share, for a total transaction of $55,563.76. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 693,113 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,677,774.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Assembly Biosciences

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Assembly Biosciences by 131.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,558 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $184,000 after acquiring an additional 7,690 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Assembly Biosciences by 39.2% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 54,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $753,000 after purchasing an additional 15,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Assembly Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,421,000. Institutional investors own 19.92% of the company’s stock.

About Assembly Biosciences

Assembly Biosciences, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops therapeutic candidates for the treatment of viral diseases. It develops ABI-5366, a long-acting herpes simplex virus (HSV) helicase-primase inhibitor that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial to treat recurrent genital herpes; ABI-1179, which is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes; and ABI-6250, a small molecule orally bioavailable hepatitis delta virus entry inhibitor that is in Phase 1a clinical trial.