Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS) Upgraded by Evercore ISI to “Strong-Buy”

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS) to a strong-buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, Zacks.com reports.

GRTS has been the topic of a number of other reports. B. Riley reissued a neutral rating and set a $1.00 price target (down from $3.00) on shares of Gritstone bio in a report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright reiterated a neutral rating and set a $0.50 price target (down previously from $4.00) on shares of Gritstone bio in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JMP Securities downgraded shares of Gritstone bio from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Gritstone bio Stock Performance

Shares of GRTS opened at $0.20 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83. The stock has a market cap of $21.71 million, a P/E ratio of -0.16 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50-day moving average of $0.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $0.83. Gritstone bio has a 12-month low of $0.18 and a 12-month high of $3.33.

Gritstone bio (NASDAQ:GRTS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.12. Gritstone bio had a negative return on equity of 328.51% and a negative net margin of 910.50%. The firm had revenue of $0.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.77 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Gritstone bio will post -0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Gritstone bio

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Gritstone bio by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,733,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,166,000 after purchasing an additional 317,499 shares in the last quarter. Artal Group S.A. acquired a new position in Gritstone bio during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,650,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Gritstone bio by 4,598.5% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 553,150 shares of the company’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 541,377 shares in the last quarter. Forum Financial Management LP grew its stake in shares of Gritstone bio by 63.1% during the 2nd quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 250,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 96,763 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new stake in Gritstone bio in the 1st quarter valued at about $636,000. Institutional investors own 48.46% of the company’s stock.

Gritstone bio Company Profile

Gritstone bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in developing vaccine-based immunotherapy candidates against cancer and infectious diseases. Its primary product candidate is GRANITE, an individualized immunotherapy candidate, which is in Phase 2/3 clinical trials for the treatment of microsatellite stable colorectal cancers; and has completed Phase 1/2 clinical trials for treating solid tumors.