Citigroup Initiates Coverage on 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

Research analysts at Citigroup started coverage on shares of 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup’s price objective points to a potential upside of 195.16% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on ETNB. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $27.56.

89bio Price Performance

NASDAQ ETNB opened at $8.47 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 11.66, a current ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a PE ratio of -2.91 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $8.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $8.45. 89bio has a 12-month low of $5.99 and a 12-month high of $13.71.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.42). As a group, equities analysts predict that 89bio will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 89bio news, Director Charles Mcwherter bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $6.55 per share, for a total transaction of $32,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,250. This trade represents a 50.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total transaction of $71,149.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,764,196.17. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in shares of 89bio by 206.9% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,283 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 4,236 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $87,000. Finally, Sandia Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of 89bio by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Sandia Investment Management LP now owns 11,286 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.