Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts rate Absci a "Moderate Buy" — six firms cover the stock (4 buys, 1 hold, 1 sell) with an average 1‑year price target of $7.08, amid mixed notes including a Morgan Stanley downgrade to equal weight ($4.32) and an HC Wainwright raise to an $8 target.
• Notable insider and institutional activity: insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares at $2.29 while CEO Sean McClain sold 26,761 shares at $2.99; insiders own 10.49% and institutions hold 52.05%, with increased stakes from ARK, Vanguard and State Street.
• Recent financials show weakness: Absci missed the quarter with ($0.23) EPS vs. ($0.16) expected and $0.65M revenue vs. $1.38M expected, carries sharply negative margins and ROE, and analysts forecast about -0.89 EPS for the fiscal year as shares trade near $2.98 (market cap ~$456M).

Shares of Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the six ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $7.08.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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 note on Thursday, January 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Absci from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Absci news, insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the purchase, 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 purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,334,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,920,355.33. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 10.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Absci

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Absci by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,550,799 shares of the company's stock worth $43,802,000 after buying an additional 388,026 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Absci by 12.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,281,918 shares of the company's stock worth $22,137,000 after buying an additional 830,336 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Absci by 190.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,990,877 shares of the company's stock worth $20,908,000 after buying an additional 3,925,926 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Absci by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,239,623 shares of the company's stock worth $11,309,000 after buying an additional 186,708 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Absci by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,191,011 shares of the company's stock worth $9,701,000 after buying an additional 625,451 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Absci Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of ABSI stock opened at $2.98 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $2.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.24. Absci has a 52 week low of $2.24 and a 52 week high of $5.23. The company has a market cap of $456.00 million, a PE ratio of -3.51 and a beta of 2.00.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last issued 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 net margin of 4,113.68% and a negative return on equity of 62.33%. The business had revenue of $0.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.38 million. Equities research analysts expect that Absci will post -0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Absci

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.

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