Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from analysts, with 7 buy recommendations and 2 hold ratings, while the average price target is $68.86.
• The company reported a loss of $1.23 per share in its latest quarter, missing estimates, but achieved a significant revenue increase of 158.4% year-over-year, totaling $1.03 million.
• Insider Stephen F. Betz sold 97,483 shares at an average price of $32.23, reducing his position by nearly 49.43%.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.8571.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CRNX. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, July 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $36.00 target price on the stock. JMP Securities dropped their target price on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $90.00 to $86.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 11th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, June 27th.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ CRNX traded down $0.34 during trading on Friday, reaching $29.09. 548,365 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 947,455. The business's 50-day moving average price is $30.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.80. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $24.10 and a twelve month high of $62.53. The company has a market capitalization of $2.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.08 and a beta of 0.33.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($1.23) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $0.52 million. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 158.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned ($0.94) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Crinetics Pharmaceuticals will post -3.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Stephen F. Betz sold 97,483 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.23, for a total transaction of $3,141,877.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 99,713 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,213,749.99. This represents a 49.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 4.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CRNX. LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 23.7% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 6,071 shares of the company's stock valued at $310,000 after buying an additional 1,162 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 100,916 shares of the company's stock valued at $5,160,000 after buying an additional 16,025 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 63,077 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,225,000 after buying an additional 8,751 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 298,254 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,250,000 after buying an additional 42,954 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 16.4% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 88,939 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,547,000 after buying an additional 12,538 shares in the last quarter. 98.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. The company's lead product candidate is paltusotine, an oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, which is in Phase 3 trial for the treatment of acromegaly; and Phase 2 trial for treating carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors.