HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $21.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $29.00. HC Wainwright’s price objective points to a potential upside of 127.52% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on ETNB. Raymond James upgraded shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, 89bio currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $30.29.

89bio Stock Down 1.0 %

89bio stock opened at $9.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $979.54 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 11.66, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $8.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.47. 89bio has a 52 week low of $5.99 and a 52 week high of $16.63.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.42). On average, analysts expect that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Rohan Palekar purchased 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $7.89 per share, for a total transaction of $39,450.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 471,236 shares in the company, valued at $3,718,052.04. This trade represents a 1.07 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Charles Mcwherter purchased 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.00 per share, with a total value of $80,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $80,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 5,734,285 shares of company stock worth $50,152,194. 2.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of 89bio

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 89bio by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 178,691 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 37,693 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP raised its position in 89bio by 640.1% during the fourth quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 394,826 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,088,000 after acquiring an additional 341,479 shares in the last quarter. Stempoint Capital LP bought a new position in 89bio during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,268,000. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its position in 89bio by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 10,202,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,211,052 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sandia Investment Management LP raised its position in 89bio by 28.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter.

About 89bio

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.