Autolus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AUTL) Sees Strong Trading Volume on Earnings Beat

Key Points

• Autolus Therapeutics experienced unusually-high trading volume with approximately 1,485,615 shares exchanged, which is a 16% decline from the previous session.
• Analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Buy" with a target price of $9.32, supported by five research analysts, including a recent reissued rating and price target of $10.00 from Needham & Company.
• Institutional investors hold 72.83% of the stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like Barclays PLC, which boosted its stake by over 1,000% in the last quarter.

Autolus Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:AUTL - Get Free Report) shares saw strong trading volume on Tuesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. 1,485,615 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 16% from the previous session's volume of 1,764,762 shares.The stock last traded at $2.24 and had previously closed at $2.47.

The company reported ($0.18) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.24) by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $13.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $12.92 million.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AUTL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $10.00 target price on shares of Autolus Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Autolus Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Autolus Therapeutics from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $9.12.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Autolus Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 6.9% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,091,700 shares of the company's stock worth $41,992,000 after acquiring an additional 1,746,020 shares during the period. Armistice Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Autolus Therapeutics by 9.1% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 12,000,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $27,360,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. TFG Asset Management GP Ltd boosted its position in Autolus Therapeutics by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. TFG Asset Management GP Ltd now owns 9,500,000 shares of the company's stock worth $21,660,000 after purchasing an additional 900,000 shares in the last quarter. AXA S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Autolus Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,288,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Autolus Therapeutics by 91.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,653,241 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,885,000 after purchasing an additional 790,437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 72.83% of the company's stock.

Autolus Therapeutics Stock Performance

The firm's 50 day moving average is $2.32 and its 200-day moving average is $1.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $473.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.12 and a beta of 1.90.

Autolus Therapeutics Company Profile

Autolus Therapeutics plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The company's clinical-stage programs include obecabtagene autoleucel (AUTO1), a CD19-targeting programmed T cell investigational therapy that is in Phase 1b/2 clinical trial for the treatment of adult ALL; AUTO1/22, which is in a Phase 1 clinical trial in pediatric patients with relapsed or refractory ALL; AUTO4, a programmed T cell investigational therapy for the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma targeting TRBC1 and TRBC2; AUTO6NG, a programmed T cell investigational therapy targeting GD2 in development for the treatment of neuroblastoma; and AUTO8, a product candidate to treat multiple myeloma.