CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Shares Down 4% - Should You Sell?

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report)'s stock price traded down 4% on Monday . The company traded as low as $37.62 and last traded at $37.74. 1,644,505 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 1,625,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.30.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CRSP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. TD Cowen raised CRISPR Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised CRISPR Therapeutics from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $60.00 to $99.00 in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Down 0.0 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.64 and a beta of 1.85.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 981.54% and a negative return on equity of 18.46%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,973 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total value of $423,054.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 180,890 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,673,353.80. The trade was a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Julianne Bruno sold 1,198 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $50,819.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,263 shares in the company, valued at $350,516.46. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243. Corporate insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Intellectus Partners LLC increased its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Intellectus Partners LLC now owns 7,131 shares of the company's stock valued at $281,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Farrow Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Farrow Financial Inc. now owns 20,097 shares of the company's stock valued at $777,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 20,636 shares of the company's stock worth $812,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 5,252 shares of the company's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 372 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 10,682 shares of the company's stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company's stock.

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.