Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Brokerages assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" (1 sell, 1 hold, 3 buy) on Absci with an average 12‑month price target of $6.44; Morgan Stanley recently downgraded to equal weight ($4.32) while Needham maintains a buy ($7.00).
• Absci missed quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of ‑$0.23 vs. ‑$0.16 expected and revenue of $0.65M vs. $1.38M expected, leaving the company with large negative margins; the stock trades near $5.95 with a market cap of about $925M and a 52‑week range of $2.24–$6.24.
• Insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares at $2.29, insiders now own 10.49% of the company, and institutional ownership stands at 52.05% with notable position increases from ARK, Vanguard and State Street.

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the five brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $6.44.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Absci from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.32 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Absci in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Absci in a report on Wednesday, March 25th.

Absci Stock Up 6.1%

ABSI opened at $5.95 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $3.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $3.30. Absci has a 52 week low of $2.24 and a 52 week high of $6.24. The company has a market capitalization of $924.91 million, a PE ratio of -7.00 and a beta of 2.36.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.23) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.07). Absci had a negative return on equity of 62.33% and a negative net margin of 4,113.68%.The company had revenue of $0.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Absci will post -0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Absci

In other news, insider Andreas Busch acquired 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. The trade was a 31.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Absci by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,550,799 shares of the company's stock worth $43,802,000 after acquiring an additional 388,026 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Absci by 12.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,281,918 shares of the company's stock worth $22,137,000 after acquiring an additional 830,336 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Absci by 190.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,990,877 shares of the company's stock worth $20,908,000 after purchasing an additional 3,925,926 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Absci by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,239,623 shares of the company's stock worth $11,309,000 after purchasing an additional 186,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of Absci by 24.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,191,011 shares of the company's stock worth $9,701,000 after purchasing an additional 625,451 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Absci Company Profile

Absci Corporation NASDAQ: ABSI is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company's Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci's offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.