Barclays Has Lowered Expectations for AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) Stock Price

Key Points

• Barclays lowered its price target on AnaptysBio from $79 to $63 but kept an "overweight" rating, with the new target implying roughly a 21% upside from the stock's current price.
• AnaptysBio beat quarterly estimates (EPS $1.58 vs. $0.89 expected; revenue $108.3M vs. $87.1M) but still shows a negative net margin and negative return on equity.
• The board authorized a share buyback, while insiders have recently sold shares (48,324 shares worth about $2.79M in the last three months) and insiders currently own 33.5% of the stock.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by equities research analysts at Barclays from $79.00 to $63.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "overweight" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Barclays's target price indicates a potential upside of 21.14% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on AnaptysBio from $56.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on AnaptysBio from $90.00 to $60.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Wedbush boosted their price objective on AnaptysBio from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of AnaptysBio in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut AnaptysBio from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.50.

AnaptysBio Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of AnaptysBio stock opened at $52.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.36. AnaptysBio has a 12-month low of $17.11 and a 12-month high of $73.30. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -100.35 and a beta of 0.40.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.69. AnaptysBio had a negative net margin of 5.64% and a negative return on equity of 1,101.24%. The firm had revenue of $108.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.09 million. On average, analysts predict that AnaptysBio will post -2.96 EPS for the current year.

AnaptysBio announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, March 27th that permits the company to buyback $100,000.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 5,352,316.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at AnaptysBio

In other AnaptysBio news, Director John P. Schmid sold 20,645 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total value of $1,158,390.95. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 31,622 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,774,310.42. This represents a 39.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric J. Loumeau sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.00, for a total value of $540,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 12,835 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $693,090. This represents a 43.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 48,324 shares of company stock worth $2,787,594. 33.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AnaptysBio

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in AnaptysBio by 153.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,011 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 18,165 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in shares of AnaptysBio by 26.9% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,854 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $374,000 after buying an additional 3,571 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 1,631.6% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 247,625 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,497,000 after buying an additional 233,325 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of AnaptysBio during the second quarter valued at approximately $528,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of AnaptysBio during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,348,000.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic antibody product candidates in immunology and inflammation. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Diego, California, AnaptysBio leverages a proprietary somatic hypermutation platform to rapidly generate and refine human antibodies with optimized efficacy and safety profiles. The company's technology is designed to accelerate target validation and candidate selection across a range of immune-mediated conditions.

The company's pipeline includes multiple clinical-stage programs addressing dermatological and inflammatory disorders.

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