Beam Therapeutics Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:BEAM)

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 10,060 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,089% compared to the typical volume of 846 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Beam Therapeutics

In other news, President Giuseppe Ciaramella sold 7,434 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $136,413.90. Following the sale, the president now owns 190,216 shares in the company, valued at $3,490,463.60. This represents a 3.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 908,659 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $24,306,628.25. The trade was a 3.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 73,771 shares of company stock worth $1,605,698. 4.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BEAM. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $330,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,957,611 shares of the company's stock valued at $98,149,000 after acquiring an additional 404,782 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 20,767 shares of the company's stock valued at $515,000 after acquiring an additional 3,222 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 648,945 shares of the company's stock worth $16,094,000 after acquiring an additional 19,453 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 4.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,807,683 shares of the company's stock worth $44,297,000 after purchasing an additional 78,102 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.68% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday, March 10th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target for the company in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $49.45.

Beam Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BEAM traded down $0.65 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $19.52. The company had a trading volume of 1,222,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,386,227. Beam Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $13.53 and a 12-month high of $35.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $22.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.74. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -11.09 and a beta of 2.02.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.25) by $0.16. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. The business had revenue of $30.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $16.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was down 90.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Beam Therapeutics will post -4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.