Chardan Capital Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS)

Key Points

• Arbutus Biopharma has received a "buy" rating from Chardan Capital, with a target price of $5.00, indicating a potential upside of 47.06% from its previous close.
• In addition to Chardan's endorsement, Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, contributing to a consensus rating of "Buy" among analysts.
• The company reported an earnings surprise of $0.01 per share for the last quarter, beating estimates of ($0.02) significantly, with revenue of $10.74 million versus expected figures of $2.21 million.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by analysts at Chardan Capital in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $5.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. Chardan Capital's target price would indicate a potential upside of 47.06% from the stock's current price.

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $5.50.

Arbutus Biopharma Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Arbutus Biopharma stock traded up $0.05 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $3.40. The company had a trading volume of 641,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 662,376. The company has a market capitalization of $651.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.72 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $3.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.31. Arbutus Biopharma has a 1-year low of $2.70 and a 1-year high of $4.72.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $10.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.21 million. Arbutus Biopharma had a negative net margin of 352.24% and a negative return on equity of 59.28%. Sell-side analysts expect that Arbutus Biopharma will post -0.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Arbutus Biopharma

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma during the first quarter worth $35,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma during the fourth quarter worth $55,000. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 71.5% during the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 18,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 7,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma during the first quarter worth $65,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 43.79% of the company's stock.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.