89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) Receives $27.56 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of 89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $27.56.

ETNB has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of 89bio in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, March 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st.

89bio Trading Down 2.4 %

89bio stock opened at $8.52 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $8.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.43. The company has a quick ratio of 11.66, a current ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. 89bio has a 12 month low of $5.99 and a 12 month high of $11.89. The stock has a market cap of $1.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.93 and a beta of 1.17.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.42). As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. acquired 5,714,285 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.75 per share, for a total transaction of $49,999,993.75. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at $171,100,291.25. This trade represents a 41.29 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total transaction of $71,149.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,764,196.17. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ETNB. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in 89bio by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,514,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,177,000 after acquiring an additional 1,355,838 shares during the period. Suvretta Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 89bio by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 10,202,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,785,000 after acquiring an additional 2,211,052 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP increased its stake in 89bio by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 7,478,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,478,000 after acquiring an additional 99,513 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP increased its stake in 89bio by 134.2% in the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,478,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,660,000 after acquiring an additional 3,711,737 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 89bio by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,692,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,514,000 after acquiring an additional 686,054 shares during the period.

About 89bio

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.