Precision BioSciences’ (DTIL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upgraded Precision BioSciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ DTIL opened at $4.70 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 9.22, a quick ratio of 9.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. Precision BioSciences has a 12-month low of $3.61 and a 12-month high of $15.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $5.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $6.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $36.05 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 78.35 and a beta of 1.59.

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($3.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.09) by ($1.11). Precision BioSciences had a net margin of 11.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.69%. The company had revenue of $3.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Precision BioSciences will post -1.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Precision BioSciences news, insider J. Jefferson Smith sold 10,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total transaction of $49,274.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 87,440 shares in the company, valued at $418,837.60. This represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 36,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.67, for a total value of $172,033.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $500,096.29. The trade was a 25.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,243 shares of company stock valued at $227,424. Corporate insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precision BioSciences

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Precision BioSciences by 40.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 65,974 shares of the company’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 19,088 shares in the last quarter. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Precision BioSciences in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Precision BioSciences by 177.0% in the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 87,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after purchasing an additional 56,100 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Precision BioSciences by 10.9% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 702,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,322,000 after purchasing an additional 68,943 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Precision BioSciences during the 4th quarter valued at $146,000. 37.99% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Precision BioSciences Company Profile

Precision BioSciences, Inc, an advanced gene editing company, develops in vivo gene editing therapies for gene edits, including gene elimination, insertion, and excision in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to DNA genome insertion, deletion, and repair. It also provides PBGENE-HBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) to eliminate covalently closed circular DNA with direct cuts and edits as well as to inactivate integrated HBV DNA with the goal of long-lasting reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen; PBGENE-PMM for the treatment of m.3243 associated primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM) which is expected to submit an IND and/or CTA.