Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC) Given “Buy” Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC) in a report issued on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $41.00 target price on the stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. HC Wainwright lowered their price target on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics from $45.00 to $41.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cartesian Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $42.33.

Cartesian Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of RNAC opened at $17.91 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.97. Cartesian Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $11.66 and a fifty-two week high of $42.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $455.27 million, a PE ratio of -0.34 and a beta of 0.63.

Insider Activity at Cartesian Therapeutics

In related news, CTO Metin Kurtoglu sold 32,789 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.67, for a total transaction of $546,592.63. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 51,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $850,720.11. This represents a 39.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Timothy A. Springer purchased 80,301 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $22.58 per share, with a total value of $1,813,196.58. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 8,023,766 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $181,176,636.28. The trade was a 1.01 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders sold 128,089 shares of company stock valued at $2,169,555 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 57.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNAC. Artal Group S.A. purchased a new position in shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $5,939,000. Vanguard Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $4,105,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cartesian Therapeutics by 458.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,851,830 shares of the company’s stock worth $45,972,000 after buying an additional 2,341,054 shares during the last quarter. Great Point Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $3,224,000. Finally, Logos Global Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $2,431,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.95% of the company’s stock.

About Cartesian Therapeutics

Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, engages in the provision of mRNA cell therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. It develops Descartes-08, an autologous anti-BCMA RNA-engineered chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, currently under Phase 2b clinical development for generalized myasthenia gravis, as well as for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and myeloma autoimmune basket trials for other autoimmune diseases.