HighTower Advisors LLC Lowers Position in CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)

HighTower Advisors LLC lessened its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) by 17.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 31,708 shares of the company’s stock after selling 6,608 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics were worth $1,248,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 22,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 645 shares during the period. Farrow Financial Inc. lifted its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Farrow Financial Inc. now owns 20,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $777,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 4,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich purchased a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 2,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $120,897.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 77,530 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,288,822.60. This trade represents a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,973 shares of the company’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 value of $423,054.66. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,673,353.80. This represents a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243 over the last three months. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on CRSP shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $99.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $66.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Down 4.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:CRSP opened at $40.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.36 and a beta of 1.77. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a 12 month low of $36.52 and a 12 month high of $73.09. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $43.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $45.32.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 EPS for the current year.

CRISPR Therapeutics 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.