89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) Receives Sell (D-) Rating from Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings restated their sell (d-) rating on shares of 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) in a research note released on Friday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

ETNB has been the subject of several other research reports. Raymond James upgraded 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective (down previously from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $30.29.

89bio Price Performance

89bio stock opened at $7.85 on Friday. 89bio has a 12 month low of $5.99 and a 12 month high of $13.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 11.66 and a quick ratio of 11.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $8.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $833.09 million, a PE ratio of -2.70 and a beta of 1.17.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.42). Equities analysts predict that 89bio will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. acquired 5,714,285 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,100,291.25. The trade was a 41.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total value of $71,149.87. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,764,196.17. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of 89bio

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ETNB. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 172.1% during the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 22,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after acquiring an additional 13,961 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio during the third quarter valued at $160,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 8.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 721,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,336,000 after acquiring an additional 53,932 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 103.4% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 62,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $460,000 after acquiring an additional 31,630 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 29.6% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,006,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,245,000 after acquiring an additional 686,673 shares during the last quarter.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.