CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $30.00 to $32.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “underweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential downside of 35.64% from the stock’s current price.

CRSP has been the topic of several other research reports. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. TD Cowen upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.50.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock opened at $49.72 on Friday. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $36.52 and a 1-year high of $91.10. The company has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $41.89 and a 200-day moving average of $46.10.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total value of $826,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 181,540 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,002,854. This represents a 7.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRSP. Highline Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $39,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 100.0% in the fourth quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP now owns 1,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Darwin Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in CRISPR Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Institutional investors 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.