Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $84.00 price objective on the stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup dropped their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $99.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 14.7 %

Shares of CRSP opened at $39.30 on Wednesday. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $30.04 and a 1-year high of $67.88. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $41.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $44.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.99 and a beta of 1.85.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 1,198 shares of the business’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 transaction of $50,819.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,516.46. The trade was a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 18,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $1,013,472.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 171,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,473,037.60. This trade represents a 9.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243 over the last ninety days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $359,000. Capital Market Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $461,000. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 2,047.4% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 60,514 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after buying an additional 57,696 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $3,231,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,383,000 after acquiring an additional 35,196 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.