CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON) Rating Increased to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• CG Oncology was upgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating, reflecting a potential shift in investor sentiment.
• The consensus target price for CG Oncology is $54.30, with one analyst rating it as a Strong Buy, while others have mixed opinions including Buy and Hold ratings.
• Shares of CG Oncology have traded up 2.4%, and the company recently reported earnings per share of ($0.54), missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49).

CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CG Oncology from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Piper Sandler initiated coverage on shares of CG Oncology in a report on Monday, August 18th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $55.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CG Oncology from $52.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of CG Oncology to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $40.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of CG Oncology from $68.00 to $53.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CG Oncology has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.30.

CG Oncology Price Performance

CGON traded up $2.13 on Monday, reaching $33.07. 2,019,071 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 560,894. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $26.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.31. CG Oncology has a 52-week low of $14.80 and a 52-week high of $40.47. The company has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.68 and a beta of 0.87.

CG Oncology (NASDAQ:CGON - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.54) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.05). CG Oncology had a negative net margin of 15,945.17% and a negative return on equity of 19.37%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CG Oncology will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Hong Fang Song sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.80, for a total value of $2,780,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,903,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $80,729,281.80. This represents a 3.33% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Leonard E. Post sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.00, for a total transaction of $56,000.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CG Oncology

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in CG Oncology by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,945 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in CG Oncology by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,279 shares of the company's stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in CG Oncology by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 27,754 shares of the company's stock worth $680,000 after acquiring an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in CG Oncology by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 15,270 shares of the company's stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 930 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in CG Oncology by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 258,090 shares of the company's stock worth $6,321,000 after acquiring an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 26.56% of the company's stock.

About CG Oncology

CG Oncology, Inc, an oncolytic immunotherapy company, focuses on developing and commercializing backbone bladder-sparing therapeutics for patients with bladder cancer. The company develops BOND-003 for the treatment of high-risk bacillus calmette guerin (BCG)-unresponsive non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients; CORE-001 to treat cretostimogene in combination with pembrolizumab in high-risk BCG-unresponsive NMIBC patients; and CORE-002 for the treatment of cretostimogene in combination with the checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab in muscle invasive bladder cancer patients.