CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Hits New 52-Week High Following Insider Buying Activity

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report)'s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The company traded as high as $66.49 and last traded at $62.66, with a volume of 2037492 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.09.

Specifically, Director Simeon George bought 989,812 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $52.03 per share, with a total value of $51,499,918.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 1,730,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at $90,021,213.37. This trade represents a 133.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRSP has been the subject of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 8th. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $71.75.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $44.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.68. The firm has a market cap of $5.43 billion, a PE ratio of -13.91 and a beta of 1.82.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.58) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.27) by ($0.31). CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 20.08% and a negative net margin of 1,023.64%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.43) earnings per share. CRISPR Therapeutics's quarterly revenue was up 71.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 182.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,952,751 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,452,000 after buying an additional 1,262,560 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 13.3% in the first quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 10,165,400 shares of the company's stock worth $345,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192,336 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company's stock worth $150,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,238 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company's stock worth $344,145,000 after purchasing an additional 816,789 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 6,769.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 583,733 shares of the company's stock worth $19,864,000 after purchasing an additional 575,235 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.

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