Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) Shares Down 4.8% – Should You Sell?

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLAY)’s share price was down 4.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $19.45 and last traded at $19.5830. 266,028 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 3,158,819 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RLAY has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Relay Therapeutics from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Relay Therapeutics from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 20th. JonesTrading raised Relay Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. UBS Group set a $26.00 price target on Relay Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Relay Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.92.

Relay Therapeutics Trading Down 5.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.42 and a beta of 1.69. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $19.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $14.56.

Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.41) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $0.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.96 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Relay Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Peter Rahmer sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.09, for a total transaction of $954,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 225,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,311,610.13. This represents a 18.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sanjiv Patel sold 48,199 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.58, for a total value of $943,736.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 615,898 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,059,282.84. The trade was a 7.26% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 409,639 shares of company stock valued at $7,233,399. Corporate insiders own 5.04% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Relay Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Relay Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $286,042,000. Commodore Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Relay Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $46,191,000. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Relay Therapeutics by 412.3% during the first quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 9,751,141 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,024,000 after buying an additional 7,847,896 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in Relay Therapeutics by 1,726.3% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,179,652 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,491,000 after buying an additional 3,005,553 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spruce Street Capital LP acquired a new position in Relay Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $25,246,000. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of precision therapies for oncology. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company was founded in 2016 with the goal of targeting dynamic protein motion using an integrated scientific platform. Relay Therapeutics leverages computational modeling, structural biology, and experimental validation to identify small-molecule drug candidates that modulate the behavior of disease-associated proteins.

The company’s core business activity centers on its proprietary drug-discovery engine, which combines high-performance computing—including molecular dynamics simulations—with advanced experimental techniques such as cryo-electron microscopy and biophysical screening.