Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF) Receives Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada restated their sector perform rating on shares of Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF) in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $57.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on shares of Morphic from $30.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. TD Cowen reissued a hold rating on shares of Morphic in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $57.00 price target (up previously from $52.00) on shares of Morphic in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $54.25.

Morphic Price Performance

Shares of MORF stock opened at $56.60 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $34.53. Morphic has a 1-year low of $19.34 and a 1-year high of $62.08. The company has a market cap of $2.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.17 and a beta of 1.50.

Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported ($1.15) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.96) by ($0.19). As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morphic will post -4.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Robert E. Farrell, Jr. sold 30,272 shares of Morphic stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $1,689,177.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,781 shares in the company, valued at $768,979.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, President Bruce Rogers sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.79, for a total transaction of $1,115,800.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 149,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,361,972.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Robert E. Farrell, Jr. sold 30,272 shares of Morphic stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $1,689,177.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 13,781 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $768,979.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 125,790 shares of company stock valued at $7,018,566 in the last quarter. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morphic

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MORF. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morphic by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,107,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,281,000 after buying an additional 200,772 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Morphic by 364.7% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,753 shares of the company’s stock worth $166,000 after acquiring an additional 4,515 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new position in Morphic during the fourth quarter valued at $232,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Morphic by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 23,758 shares of the company’s stock valued at $686,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares during the period. Finally, HealthInvest Partners AB purchased a new stake in shares of Morphic during the fourth quarter worth about $432,000. 94.25% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morphic Company Profile

Morphic Holding, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops oral small-molecule integrin therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, as well as fibrosis and cancer. Its lead product candidate MORF-057, an a4ß7-specific integrin inhibitor affecting inflammation is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.