CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Trading Down 0.3% – Should You Sell?

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)’s stock price dropped 0.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $41.96 and last traded at $42.11. Approximately 411,593 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 1,895,333 shares. The stock had previously closed at $42.22.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. StockNews.com raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, December 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Bank of America decreased their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.59.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $46.82. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a PE ratio of -14.82 and a beta of 1.67.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.01) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.42) by $0.41. The company had revenue of $0.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.65 million. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 12.15% and a negative net margin of 118.13%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($1.41) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total value of $826,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 181,540 shares in the company, valued at $10,002,854. The trade was a 7.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,180,000 after buying an additional 1,474,439 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,611,000 after buying an additional 599,304 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.0% in the third 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,214 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,383,000 after acquiring an additional 35,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 743.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 843,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,608,000 after acquiring an additional 743,075 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

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.