Citizens Jmp Reaffirms "Market Outperform" Rating for Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD)

Key Points

• Citizens JMP reaffirmed a “Market Outperform” rating on Opus Genetics and maintained a $17 price target, implying approximately 322% upside from the stock’s $4.03 price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive, with MarketBeat reporting a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $12.71, despite one sell rating.
• Opus Genetics reported a quarterly loss of $0.14 per share, beating estimates, but revenue of $0.76 million fell well short of the $2.63 million consensus forecast; institutional investors own nearly 15% of the company.

Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "market outperform" rating reiterated by research analysts at Citizens Jmp in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $17.00 price target on the stock. Citizens Jmp's price target points to a potential upside of 321.73% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on IRD. Chardan Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $16.00 price target on shares of Opus Genetics in a research note on Friday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Opus Genetics from $10.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Wedbush boosted their price target on Opus Genetics from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. JonesTrading boosted their price target on Opus Genetics from $10.00 to $17.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Opus Genetics in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $12.71.

Opus Genetics Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ IRD opened at $4.03 on Friday. Opus Genetics has a 1-year low of $1.70 and a 1-year high of $7.07. The company has a 50 day moving average of $4.50 and a 200-day moving average of $4.39. The company has a market cap of $333.16 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.99 and a beta of 0.62.

Opus Genetics (NASDAQ:IRD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.16) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $0.76 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.63 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Opus Genetics will post -0.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Opus Genetics news, CEO George Magrath sold 9,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.95, for a total transaction of $27,951.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,731,869 shares in the company, valued at $5,109,013.55. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Robert Gagnon sold 28,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.54, for a total value of $127,120.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 556,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,525,942.50. The trade was a 4.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 613,331 shares of company stock worth $2,971,509 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Opus Genetics

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Opus Genetics during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,809,000. Nantahala Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Opus Genetics during the 2nd quarter valued at $12,582,185. Trails Edge Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Opus Genetics during the 2nd quarter valued at $11,276,434. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Opus Genetics by 4,522.5% during the 1st quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,849,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $8,413,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Opus Genetics by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 1,125,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,624,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 14.97% of the company's stock.

About Opus Genetics

Opus Genetics, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing gene therapies for inherited retinal diseases, a group of rare disorders that can cause progressive vision loss and blindness. The company's research is centered on therapies intended to address the underlying genetic causes of these conditions rather than treating only their symptoms.

Opus Genetics is advancing an investigational pipeline of adeno-associated virus-based gene therapy candidates for diseases involving mutations in genes important to retinal function.