Evercore ISI Upgrades CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) to Outperform

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) was upgraded by Evercore ISI from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has a $99.00 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $60.00. Evercore ISI’s price target suggests a potential upside of 99.12% from the stock’s previous close.

CRSP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen upgraded CRISPR Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $35.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $66.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Bank of America lowered their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $98.00 to $85.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Chardan Capital cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.50.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 14.3 %

CRSP stock opened at $49.72 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $41.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $46.10. The stock has a market cap of $4.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 1.67. CRISPR Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $36.52 and a twelve month high of $91.10.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 118.13% and a negative return on equity of 12.15%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total transaction of $826,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 181,540 shares in the company, valued at $10,002,854. The trade was a 7.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital Market Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $461,000. KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 2,047.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 60,514 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,382,000 after purchasing an additional 57,696 shares during the last quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK increased its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 300,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,122,000 after buying an additional 22,583 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,383,000 after buying an additional 35,196 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock valued at $140,611,000 after buying an additional 599,304 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.