CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP – Get Rating) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nineteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and nine have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.59.

A number of research firms have recently commented on CRSP. Robert W. Baird began coverage on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, March 6th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Chardan Capital reduced their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $153.00 to $123.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $63.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday. Bryan, Garnier & Co began coverage on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday. They set a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 22nd.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 0.8 %

CRISPR Therapeutics stock opened at $45.74 on Friday. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $38.94 and a 52 week high of $86.95. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $49.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.46 and a beta of 1.73.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 21st. The company reported ($1.41) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($2.27) by $0.86. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 54,271.70% and a negative return on equity of 31.85%. The company had revenue of $6.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.37 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.84) EPS. CRISPR Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was down 53.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -7.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.47, for a total transaction of $1,286,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 369,111 shares in the company, valued at $18,998,143.17. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 75,000 shares of company stock worth $3,516,250 over the last 90 days. 5.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 158.5% in the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,014,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,194,000 after acquiring an additional 1,848,437 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 228.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,569,860 shares of the company’s stock valued at $95,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092,384 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 79.2% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,278,774 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007,246 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 261.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,217,289 shares of the company’s stock valued at $76,410,000 after purchasing an additional 880,463 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,993,577 shares of the company’s stock valued at $121,689,000 after purchasing an additional 752,132 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 71.51% of the company’s stock.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

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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.