Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) Lowered to “Strong Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on ABEO. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Abeona Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Abeona Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Abeona Therapeutics Trading Down 0.3%

ABEO stock opened at $7.00 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $398.93 million, a P/E ratio of 7.22 and a beta of 1.34. Abeona Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $4.00 and a twelve month high of $7.54. The company has a quick ratio of 5.70, a current ratio of 5.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $5.91 and a 200-day moving average of $5.38.

Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Abeona Therapeutics will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Christine Berni Silverstein sold 18,160 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.71, for a total value of $103,693.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 119,562 shares in the company, valued at $682,699.02. This trade represents a 13.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Eric Crombez sold 26,143 shares of Abeona Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.53, for a total value of $144,570.79. Following the sale, the director directly owned 37,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,340.89. This trade represents a 41.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 311,291 shares of company stock worth $1,877,908 over the last 90 days. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Abeona Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABEO. Aberdeen Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Abeona Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $3,248,000. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Abeona Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,540,000. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. grew its holdings in Abeona Therapeutics by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Nan Fung Trinity HK Ltd. now owns 956,770 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,042,000 after purchasing an additional 396,000 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Abeona Therapeutics by 38.6% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 161,082 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $722,000 after purchasing an additional 44,882 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in Abeona Therapeutics by 142.4% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 172,460 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $773,000 after purchasing an additional 101,307 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

About Abeona Therapeutics

Abeona Therapeutics is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of gene and cell therapies for severe, life‐threatening rare diseases and oncology indications. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Abeona leverages proprietary viral and non‐viral delivery platforms to correct or compensate for underlying genetic deficiencies. The company’s research efforts target pediatric neurodegenerative disorders as well as debilitating dermatologic conditions with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead clinical programs include separate AAV‐based gene therapies for CLN1 and CLN3 forms of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, alongside an ex vivo autologous cell therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.