Cellectis S.A. (NASDAQ:CLLS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analyst consensus: Five firms rate Cellectis a "Moderate Buy" (1 sell, 3 buy, 1 strong buy) with an average 12‑month target price of about $6.33.
• Institutional backing: Institutional investors own ~63.9% of the stock, with recent large stake increases (notably UBS boosting its holding to 4,722,664 shares).
• Recent performance and outlook: Shares opened at $3.36 and are down recently; Cellectis reported a Q that missed EPS expectations (‑$0.26 vs. ‑$0.10 consensus) despite revenue beating, and analysts expect roughly ‑0.46 EPS for the fiscal year.

Shares of Cellectis S.A. (NASDAQ:CLLS - Get Free Report) have been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by the five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $6.3333.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CLLS. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cellectis in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Cellectis in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $7.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Clear Str upgraded Cellectis to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 23rd.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cellectis

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Cellectis by 132.9% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 46,377 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26,461 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Cellectis in the 3rd quarter valued at $72,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Cellectis by 61.9% in the 3rd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 57,740 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $165,000 after acquiring an additional 22,080 shares during the period. Citadel Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Cellectis in the 3rd quarter valued at $633,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Cellectis by 228.4% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 4,722,664 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,856,000 after acquiring an additional 3,284,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 63.90% of the company's stock.

Cellectis Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of Cellectis stock opened at $3.36 on Wednesday. Cellectis has a 12-month low of $1.17 and a 12-month high of $5.48. The stock has a market cap of $337.14 million, a P/E ratio of -5.01 and a beta of 2.91. The company has a quick ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98. The business's 50 day moving average is $3.62 and its 200-day moving average is $3.97.

Cellectis (NASDAQ:CLLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 19th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.16). Cellectis had a negative return on equity of 69.38% and a negative net margin of 84.92%.The company had revenue of $15.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.74 million. Equities research analysts predict that Cellectis will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Cellectis Company Profile

Cellectis is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of gene‐edited cell therapies for oncology. Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Paris, France, the company also maintains operations in New York City and Raleigh, North Carolina. Cellectis applies its proprietary TALEN genome editing platform to engineer allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T‐cell (CAR‐T) candidates designed to target blood cancers and solid tumors.

The company's core business activities encompass the discovery, development and manufacturing of off‐the‐shelf immunotherapies.

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.