Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

ENTA has been the topic of several other research reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $18.00 price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Enanta Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $17.25.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Enanta Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $8.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $176.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 0.54. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $4.71 and a fifty-two week high of $17.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.26.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.11. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 75.53% and a negative net margin of 157.57%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -4.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jay R. Luly sold 5,142 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total transaction of $41,444.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 801,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,461,202.28. This represents a 0.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enanta Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of ENTA. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its holdings in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 46.1% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,202 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 2,274 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 4,933.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,329 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 4,243 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its product pipeline comprises EDP-514, which is in phase 1b clinical development for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus or HBV; EDP-938 and EDP-323, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus; EDP-235, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of human coronaviruses; and Glecaprevir, which is in the market for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus or HCV.