CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Trading Up 2.8% – Here’s Why

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) shares traded up 2.8% on Friday . The company traded as high as $43.48 and last traded at $43.16. 244,018 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 2,193,486 shares. The stock had previously closed at $41.99.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market cap of $3.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.64 and a beta of 1.77. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $45.56.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 18.46% and a negative net margin of 981.54%. As a group, analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 2,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $120,897.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 77,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,288,822.60. This represents a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,973 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $423,054.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,673,353.80. This represents a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,474,439 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,145,000 after purchasing an additional 816,789 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,074,238 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,611,000 after purchasing an additional 599,304 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,376,166 shares of the company’s stock worth $111,632,000 after buying an additional 23,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.