CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-two analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $74.50.

CRSP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Chardan Capital lowered their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total transaction of $826,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 181,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,002,854. This represents a 7.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,439 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,145,000 after buying an additional 816,789 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,029,000 after buying an additional 1,074,238 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,611,000 after buying an additional 599,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,376,166 shares of the company’s stock valued at $111,632,000 after buying an additional 23,075 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 14.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ CRSP opened at $49.72 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.10. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $36.52 and a 1-year high of $91.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 1.67.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 118.13% and a negative return on equity of 12.15%. Equities research analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.08 EPS for the current year.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

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.