Weiss Ratings Reiterates Sell (D-) Rating for 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

Weiss Ratings restated their sell (d-) rating on shares of 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 target price (down from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research began coverage on 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set an "outperform" rating for the company. Citigroup started coverage on 89bio in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $25.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, March 14th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $11.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $27.56.

89bio Price Performance

ETNB stock traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.53. 1,824,337 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,300,264. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 11.66 and a quick ratio of 11.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $807.29 million, a PE ratio of -1.90 and a beta of 1.25. 89bio has a 52 week low of $4.16 and a 52 week high of $11.84. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $8.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.24.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.42). As a group, analysts expect that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at 89bio

In other 89bio news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. bought 5,714,285 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at approximately $171,100,291.25. The trade was a 41.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the insider now owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,764,196.17. This represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of 89bio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in 89bio by 8.9% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,514,056 shares of the company's stock worth $129,177,000 after buying an additional 1,355,838 shares in the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of 89bio by 27.7% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 10,202,696 shares of the company's stock valued at $79,785,000 after purchasing an additional 2,211,052 shares in the last quarter. RTW Investments LP boosted its holdings in 89bio by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 7,478,061 shares of the company's stock worth $58,478,000 after purchasing an additional 99,513 shares during the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP grew its position in 89bio by 134.2% in the 4th quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,478,249 shares of the company's stock worth $50,660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,711,737 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in 89bio by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,692,331 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,514,000 after buying an additional 686,054 shares during the last quarter.

89bio Company Profile

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.