BMO Capital Markets Reiterates “Market Perform” Rating for Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF)

Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $57.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $52.00. BMO Capital Markets’ target price indicates a potential upside of 2.30% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $57.00 target price (down previously from $70.00) on shares of Morphic in a research report on Tuesday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morphic has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $53.60.

Morphic Price Performance

Shares of MORF stock traded down $0.02 on Tuesday, reaching $55.72. 7,785,576 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 967,855. The company has a 50-day moving average of $30.44 and a 200-day moving average of $31.62. Morphic has a one year low of $19.34 and a one year high of $62.08. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.92 and a beta of 1.50.

Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.96) by $0.05. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morphic will post -4.07 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Morphic by 48.5% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,421,820 shares of the company’s stock worth $78,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,985 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morphic by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,107,410 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,281,000 after acquiring an additional 200,772 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Morphic by 364.7% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,515 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in Morphic during the 4th quarter worth approximately $232,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Morphic by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 23,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.25% of the company’s stock.

Morphic Company Profile

Morphic Holding, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops oral small-molecule integrin therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, as well as fibrosis and cancer. Its lead product candidate MORF-057, an a4ß7-specific integrin inhibitor affecting inflammation is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.