89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB) Given Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• 89BIO has received an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from nine brokerages, with five holding, three buying, and one issuing a strong buy rating.
• The company recently reported a quarterly loss of ($0.71) EPS, missing analyst estimates by ($0.22).
• Significant institutional activity includes RA Capital Management increasing its holdings by 40.3% in the first quarter, acquiring a total of 19,889,683 shares.

Shares of 89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) have earned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $25.8125.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on ETNB shares. Raymond James Financial cut shares of 89BIO from a "strong-buy" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. HC Wainwright lowered shares of 89BIO from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $14.50 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Bank of America reduced their target price on shares of 89BIO from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of 89BIO from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of 89BIO in a research note on Saturday, September 27th.

Insider Activity

In other 89BIO news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,461 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $115,280.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 309,364 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,409,191.28. This trade represents a 3.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RA Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 40.3% during the first quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 19,889,683 shares of the company's stock worth $144,598,000 after purchasing an additional 5,714,285 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 25.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,163,609 shares of the company's stock worth $52,079,000 after purchasing an additional 1,471,278 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 7.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,111,299 shares of the company's stock worth $30,558,000 after purchasing an additional 213,325 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of 89BIO during the second quarter worth $30,102,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 406.2% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,171,194 shares of the company's stock worth $21,321,000 after purchasing an additional 1,742,299 shares during the last quarter.

89BIO Stock Up 1.0%

ETNB opened at $14.84 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $9.20. 89BIO has a 52 week low of $4.16 and a 52 week high of $15.06. The company has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 15.19, a current ratio of 15.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.22). During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.48) EPS. Analysts forecast that 89BIO will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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