Insider Selling: Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA) CEO Sells 55,000 Shares of Stock

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA) CEO Saurabh Saha sold 55,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.53, for a total transaction of $909,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 721,924 shares in the company, valued at $11,933,403.72. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Saurabh Saha also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 10th, Saurabh Saha sold 175,000 shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.52, for a total transaction of $2,891,000.00.
• On Thursday, August 22nd, Saurabh Saha sold 506 shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.23, for a total transaction of $6,188.38.
• On Tuesday, August 20th, Saurabh Saha sold 4,169 shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.32, for a total transaction of $51,362.08.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Centessa Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.73 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.58. 1,433,870 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 393,946. The company has a market cap of $1.67 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.64 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a current ratio of 13.29, a quick ratio of 13.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc has a twelve month low of $5.15 and a twelve month high of $17.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $12.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.64.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.02). Equities analysts expect that Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc will post -1.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centessa Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. First Light Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 59.2% during the second quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 4,780,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,168,000 after buying an additional 1,778,515 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 27.6% in the 2nd quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 3,933,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,518,000 after purchasing an additional 850,000 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 16.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,958,079 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,427,000 after purchasing an additional 418,615 shares in the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 89.5% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,092,011 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,891,000 after purchasing an additional 987,997 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Octagon Capital Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 333.2% in the 4th quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,060,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,398,000 after purchasing an additional 1,584,500 shares in the last quarter. 82.01% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $19.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $11.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, B. Riley assumed coverage on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $33.00 price target on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.17.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and delivers medicines to patients. Its pipeline products include SerpinPC, an activated protein C inhibitor, which is in Phase IIa clinical development for the treatment of hemophilia A and B; and ORX750, an orally administered OX2R agonist for the treatment of NT1 with potential expansion into other sleep disorders.