Autolus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AUTL) Shares Gap Up Following Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Autolus Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ:AUTL)’s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $1.94, but opened at $2.01. Autolus Therapeutics shares last traded at $1.92, with a volume of 220,321 shares traded.

The company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.21) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $0.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.98 million.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Autolus Therapeutics from $8.00 to $6.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Autolus Therapeutics in a report on Monday, January 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $9.52.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 44.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 17,773,873 shares of the company’s stock valued at $64,519,000 after acquiring an additional 5,478,706 shares during the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Autolus Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $51,000. Bellevue Group AG lifted its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 27.7% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 41,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $151,000 after acquiring an additional 9,000 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Autolus Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $708,000. Finally, HighVista Strategies LLC lifted its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 2.7% in the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 533,024 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,935,000 after acquiring an additional 14,204 shares during the last quarter. 72.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Autolus Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $452.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.40 and a beta of 2.07. The business has a fifty day moving average of $2.02 and a 200 day moving average of $2.92.

Autolus Therapeutics Company Profile

Autolus Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's clinical-stage programs include obecabtagene autoleucel (AUTO1), a CD19-targeting programmed T cell investigational therapy that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of adult ALL; AUTO1/22, which is in a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL; AUTO4, a programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma targeting TRBC1 and TRBC2; AUTO6NG, a programmed T cell investigational therapy targeting GD2 in development for the treatment of neuroblastoma; and AUTO8, a product candidate to treat multiple myeloma.