Precision BioSciences’ (DTIL) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright restated their buy rating on shares of Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $60.00 target price on the stock.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Precision BioSciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Trading Up 3.5 %

Shares of DTIL stock opened at $4.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 9.22, a quick ratio of 9.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Precision BioSciences has a 12-month low of $3.61 and a 12-month high of $15.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.05 million, a P/E ratio of 78.35 and a beta of 1.59. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.11 and its 200 day moving average is $6.55.

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($3.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.09) by ($1.11). The business had revenue of $3.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 million. Precision BioSciences had a net margin of 11.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.69%. Research analysts expect that Precision BioSciences will post -1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 36,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.67, for a total value of $172,033.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $500,096.29. The trade was a 25.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider J. Jefferson Smith sold 10,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total value of $49,274.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 87,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,837.60. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,243 shares of company stock worth $227,424 over the last three months. 4.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precision BioSciences

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lynx1 Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Precision BioSciences in the 4th quarter valued at $2,919,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Precision BioSciences by 10.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 702,069 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,322,000 after purchasing an additional 68,943 shares in the last quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Precision BioSciences by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 673,332 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,565,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Precision BioSciences by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 153,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 56,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in Precision BioSciences by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 109,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 29,200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 37.99% of the company’s stock.

About Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences, Inc, an advanced gene editing company, develops in vivo gene editing therapies for gene edits, including gene elimination, insertion, and excision in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to DNA genome insertion, deletion, and repair. It also provides PBGENE-HBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) to eliminate covalently closed circular DNA with direct cuts and edits as well as to inactivate integrated HBV DNA with the goal of long-lasting reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen; PBGENE-PMM for the treatment of m.3243 associated primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM) which is expected to submit an IND and/or CTA.