Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday.

ENTA has been the topic of several other reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.25.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Enanta Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $5.59. The stock had a trading volume of 1,169,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 524,326. The stock has a market capitalization of $119.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.02 and a beta of 0.54. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $4.71 and a 1-year high of $17.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.61.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.11. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 73.02% and a negative net margin of 171.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -5.05 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jay R. Luly sold 5,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total value of $41,444.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 801,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,461,202.28. This trade represents a 0.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 13.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 4,933.7% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,329 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 4,243 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its stake in Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 65.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 19,123 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 7,535 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.99% of the company’s stock.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its product pipeline comprises EDP-514, which is in phase 1b clinical development for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus or HBV; EDP-938 and EDP-323, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus; EDP-235, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of human coronaviruses; and Glecaprevir, which is in the market for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus or HCV.