Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $7.08.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ABSI shares. Morgan Stanley cut Absci from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.32 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Absci from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th.

Absci Price Performance

Shares of ABSI opened at $2.96 on Wednesday. Absci has a 1-year low of $2.01 and a 1-year high of $5.23. The stock has a market cap of $445.10 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.29 and a beta of 2.12. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andreas Busch purchased 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at $965,111.34. This represents a 31.11% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,334,567 shares in the company, valued at $24,920,355.33. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Absci during the third quarter worth $26,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Absci by 91.2% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 5,385 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its stake in Absci by 45.9% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 3,678 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Absci during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Absci during the third quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.05% of the company’s stock.

About Absci

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.