Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORMP) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Oramed from Buy to Hold, while Weiss Ratings upgraded it to Buy; MarketBeat reported an overall consensus rating of Buy.
• Oramed reported quarterly EPS of -$0.09, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by $0.52.
• The COO and CFO each sold shares at $4.51 under pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plans, reducing their individual holdings by about 2.2%.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORMP - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Oramed Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Friday, October 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy".

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.8%

ORMP stock opened at $3.86 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.58 million, a PE ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.31. Oramed Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $2.09 and a 1-year high of $5.47. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $4.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.04.

Oramed Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORMP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.43 by ($0.52). As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Oramed Pharmaceuticals will post 1.47 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Oramed Pharmaceuticals

In other news, COO Joshua Hexter sold 30,000 shares of Oramed Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.51, for a total transaction of $135,300.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 1,328,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,989,866.30. The trade was a 2.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Avraham Gabay sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.51, for a total transaction of $90,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 861,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,883,452.76. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 20.77% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in Oramed Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $61,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Oramed Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at $63,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Oramed Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $331,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in shares of Oramed Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $381,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Oramed Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 146,152 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909 shares in the last quarter. 12.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Oramed Pharmaceuticals

Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc NASDAQ: ORMP is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing oral formulations of drugs that are typically administered by injection. The company's proprietary Protein Oral Delivery (POD™) technology is designed to protect therapeutic proteins from degradation in the digestive system and facilitate their absorption through the gastrointestinal tract.

Oramed's development programs have primarily focused on oral insulin, including its investigational ORMD-0801 product candidate for the treatment of diabetes.

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.