Cartesian Therapeutics' (RNAC) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company reiterated its “buy” rating on Cartesian Therapeutics and set a $40 price target, implying 452.49% potential upside from the stock’s $7.24 price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with five Buy ratings, one Hold, and one Sell; MarketBeat’s consensus is “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $32.60.
• Cartesian shares rose 0.4% to $7.24, while institutional investors own 86.95% of the company. The clinical-stage biotech most notably is developing mRNA-based cell therapies, including its lead Descartes-08 program.

Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price points to a potential upside of 452.49% from the company's current price.

RNAC has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $38.00 price target on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, August 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Cartesian Therapeutics from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cartesian Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Cartesian Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cartesian Therapeutics has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $32.60.

Cartesian Therapeutics Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of RNAC traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $7.24. 157,783 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 199,945. Cartesian Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $5.60 and a 1 year high of $11.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.01 million, a P/E ratio of -1.22 and a beta of 0.62. The business's 50-day moving average price is $8.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $7.97.

Cartesian Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RNAC - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.88) by $1.34. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Cartesian Therapeutics will post -3.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cartesian Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its holdings in Cartesian Therapeutics by 0.7% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 2,254,619 shares of the company's stock worth $23,493,000 after acquiring an additional 16,133 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Cartesian Therapeutics in the second quarter worth $332,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Cartesian Therapeutics by 63.7% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 67,300 shares of the company's stock worth $414,000 after acquiring an additional 26,200 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in Cartesian Therapeutics in the first quarter worth $78,000. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Cartesian Therapeutics by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. 683 Capital Management LLC now owns 280,000 shares of the company's stock worth $2,019,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares in the last quarter. 86.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cartesian Therapeutics Company Profile

Cartesian Therapeutics, Inc NASDAQ: RNAC is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing cell therapies for autoimmune diseases. Its research focuses on mRNA cell therapy, an approach designed to program a patient's own immune cells to target disease-related proteins while enabling transient expression of the therapeutic construct.

The company's lead program, Descartes-08, is an autologous anti-BCMA CAR T-cell therapy that uses mRNA to direct T cells against B-cell maturation antigen.