Precision BioSciences’ (DTIL) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at HC Wainwright

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 price objective on the stock.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets raised Precision BioSciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Stock Performance

Precision BioSciences stock opened at $4.70 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $5.11 and a 200-day moving average of $6.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 9.22 and a quick ratio of 9.22. Precision BioSciences has a 1 year low of $3.61 and a 1 year high of $15.97. The company has a market capitalization of $36.05 million, a P/E ratio of 78.35 and a beta of 1.59.

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($3.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.09) by ($1.11). The business had revenue of $3.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.28 million. Precision BioSciences had a net margin of 11.48% and a negative return on equity of 23.69%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Precision BioSciences will post -1.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Precision BioSciences

In other news, insider J. Jefferson Smith sold 10,287 shares of Precision BioSciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total value of $49,274.73. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 87,440 shares in the company, valued at $418,837.60. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 36,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.67, for a total transaction of $172,033.46. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,087 shares in the company, valued at approximately $500,096.29. This represents a 25.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,243 shares of company stock worth $227,424 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Precision BioSciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DTIL. Lynx1 Capital Management LP bought a new position in Precision BioSciences in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,919,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Precision BioSciences by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 702,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,322,000 after purchasing an additional 68,943 shares in the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC grew its position in Precision BioSciences by 58.0% in the 4th quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 153,675 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 56,400 shares during the period. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Precision BioSciences by 177.0% during the 4th quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 87,799 shares of the company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 56,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in Precision BioSciences during the 4th quarter valued at $211,000. 37.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Precision BioSciences

Precision BioSciences, Inc, an advanced gene editing company, develops in vivo gene editing therapies for gene edits, including gene elimination, insertion, and excision in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to DNA genome insertion, deletion, and repair. It also provides PBGENE-HBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) to eliminate covalently closed circular DNA with direct cuts and edits as well as to inactivate integrated HBV DNA with the goal of long-lasting reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen; PBGENE-PMM for the treatment of m.3243 associated primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM) which is expected to submit an IND and/or CTA.