Needham & Company LLC Cuts CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Price Target to $88.00

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) had its price target decreased by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $90.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 68.58% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CRSP. TheStreet upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $88.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Chardan Capital upped their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.53.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock traded down $1.09 on Thursday, hitting $52.20. The stock had a trading volume of 288,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,743,483. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.81 and a 200 day moving average of $64.64. CRISPR Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $37.55 and a twelve month high of $91.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of -26.61 and a beta of 1.80.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($1.43) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.35) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $0.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.53 million. CRISPR Therapeutics’s revenue was down 99.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.67) EPS. Equities analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -6.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $1,607,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 187,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,057,615.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.36, for a total transaction of $1,607,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 187,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,057,615.72. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 1,913 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.67, for a total value of $152,408.71. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 57,371 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,570,747.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 83,992 shares of company stock valued at $6,132,335. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 21.7% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 33,378 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,515,000 after acquiring an additional 5,948 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 28.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 5,580 shares of the company’s stock worth $253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 18,527 shares of the company’s stock worth $841,000 after acquiring an additional 1,879 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 184,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,391,000 after acquiring an additional 17,258 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 240,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,915,000 after acquiring an additional 27,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.