Franklin Resources Inc. Takes $301,000 Position in Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS)

Franklin Resources Inc. acquired a new stake in Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 92,159 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $301,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arbutus Biopharma by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,980,864 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $29,367,000 after purchasing an additional 62,282 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Arbutus Biopharma by 50.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,407,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,967,000 after buying an additional 1,472,652 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Arbutus Biopharma by 4.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,448,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,280,000 after purchasing an additional 135,442 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,222,201 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,997,000 after buying an additional 9,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 900.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 896,258 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,931,000 after buying an additional 806,672 shares during the period. 43.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arbutus Biopharma Stock Up 2.9 %

ABUS opened at $3.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $603.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.33 and a beta of 1.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $3.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $3.46. Arbutus Biopharma Co. has a fifty-two week low of $2.63 and a fifty-two week high of $4.73.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.57 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 million. Arbutus Biopharma had a negative return on equity of 68.18% and a negative net margin of 1,137.65%. Research analysts anticipate that Arbutus Biopharma Co. will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ABUS shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 29th. Finally, Chardan Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research note on Friday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.50.

Arbutus Biopharma Company Profile

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.