Celcuity’s (CELC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $70.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CELC. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on shares of Celcuity in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. They set a “buy” rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim initiated coverage on shares of Celcuity in a report on Monday, September 22nd. They set a “buy” rating for the company. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Celcuity from $50.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 18th. Finally, Leerink Partners upped their target price on shares of Celcuity from $28.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Celcuity has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $56.50.

Celcuity Trading Up 2.2%

CELC opened at $50.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.24, a quick ratio of 4.58 and a current ratio of 4.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.96. Celcuity has a one year low of $7.57 and a one year high of $63.06. The stock has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.64 and a beta of 0.70.

Celcuity (NASDAQ:CELC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported ($1.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.90) by ($0.14). On average, equities analysts forecast that Celcuity will post -2.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Celcuity

In other news, Director David Dalvey sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.98, for a total transaction of $4,398,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 125,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,497,500. This represents a 44.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 15.78% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Celcuity

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in Celcuity by 211.2% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 5,549 shares of the company’s stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 3,766 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of Celcuity by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 570,441 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,615,000 after purchasing an additional 12,838 shares during the last quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. boosted its stake in Celcuity by 17.0% in the 2nd quarter. Soleus Capital Management L.P. now owns 3,011,818 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,208,000 after purchasing an additional 437,696 shares in the last quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC grew its position in Celcuity by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 1,389,427 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,549,000 after purchasing an additional 123,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Celcuity by 78.9% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,647 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 1,167 shares in the last quarter. 63.33% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Celcuity

Celcuity Inc, a clinical stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of targeted therapies for the treatment of various solid tumors in the United States. The company's CELsignia diagnostic platform uses a patient's living tumor cells to identify the specific abnormal cellular process driving a patient's cancer and the related targeted therapy for the treatment.