CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Price Up 4.7% – Here’s Why

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)’s share price traded up 4.7% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $46.73 and last traded at $46.50. 495,549 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 2,338,765 shares. The stock had previously closed at $44.40.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRSP. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. StockNews.com upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $60.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.40.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.98 and a beta of 1.67. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.99.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 18.46% and a negative net margin of 981.54%. Analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 18,360 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $1,013,472.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 171,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,473,037.60. This trade represents a 9.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,180,000 after buying an additional 1,474,439 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,238 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,145,000 after buying an additional 816,789 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP raised its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 743.1% during the 3rd quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 843,075 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,608,000 after purchasing an additional 743,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,611,000 after buying an additional 599,304 shares during the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

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.