Design Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DSGN) Stock Price Down 13.5% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Shares fell 13.5% on Thursday to about $13.65, with only 83,889 shares traded—a 73% drop versus the average session volume of 312,742 shares.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed but tilted positive: MarketBeat shows an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $16 (breakdown: 1 Strong Buy, 5 Buy, 1 Sell).
• Design Therapeutics beat Q1 EPS estimates (-$0.29 vs. -$0.36) and has seen large institutional accumulation (notably Baker Bros. and RA Capital), with institutions owning about 56.6% of the shares.

Design Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:DSGN - Get Free Report) shares fell 13.5% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $14.13 and last traded at $13.6510. 83,889 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 312,742 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.79.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DSGN. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Design Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Design Therapeutics in a report on Monday, March 16th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $15.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer started coverage on shares of Design Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $18.00 target price on the stock. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Design Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Design Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $16.00.

Design Therapeutics Trading Down 12.9%

The business's 50 day moving average is $11.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.65. The company has a market cap of $858.94 million, a PE ratio of -11.27 and a beta of 1.57.

Design Therapeutics (NASDAQ:DSGN - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported ($0.29) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.36) by $0.07. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Design Therapeutics, Inc. will post -1.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Design Therapeutics by 30.4% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,233,099 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,946,000 after buying an additional 520,217 shares in the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC bought a new stake in Design Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $15,129,000. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its holdings in Design Therapeutics by 207.2% in the 4th quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 1,461,381 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,708,000 after acquiring an additional 985,682 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Design Therapeutics by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 794,008 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 18,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its holdings in Design Therapeutics by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 647,636 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,075,000 after acquiring an additional 13,239 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 56.64% of the company's stock.

About Design Therapeutics

Design Therapeutics, Inc a biopharmaceutical company, researches, designs, develops, and commercializes small molecule therapeutic drugs for the treatment of genetic diseases in the United States. The company utilizes its GeneTAC platform to design and develop therapeutic candidates for inherited diseases caused by nucleotide repeat expansion. Its lead product candidates for potentially disease-modifying treatment comprises Friedreich Ataxia, a monogenic, autosomal recessive, progressive multi-system disease that affects organ systems dependent on mitochondrial function that brings to neurological, cardiac, and metabolic dysfunction; Myotonic Dystrophy Type-1, a dominantly-inherited, monogenic progressive neuromuscular disease affecting skeletal muscle, heart, brain, and other organs; Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy, a genetic eye disease characterized by bilateral degeneration of corneal endothelial cells and progressive loss of vision; and Huntington's Disease, a dominantly inherited, monogenic neurodegenerative disease characterized by movement, cognitive, and psychiatric disorders.

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