ARK Investment Management LLC Acquires 1,192,336 Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)

Key Points

• ARK Investment Management LLC increased its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics AG by 13.3%, acquiring an additional 1,192,336 shares in the 1st quarter, bringing their total holdings to over 10 million shares.
• According to analysts, CRISPR Therapeutics has a consensus rating of "Hold," with an average target price of $71.31; several firms have issued buy ratings while others have set lower price objectives.
• CRISPR Therapeutics recently reported a negative earnings per share of ($1.58), missing analyst estimates, but achieved a notable 71.6% increase in quarterly revenue compared to the previous year.

ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP - Free Report) by 13.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,165,400 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,192,336 shares during the quarter. CRISPR Therapeutics makes up about 3.4% of ARK Investment Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. ARK Investment Management LLC owned about 11.77% of CRISPR Therapeutics worth $345,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CRSP. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at $3,231,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,969 shares of the company's stock valued at $943,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $634,000. LPL Financial LLC raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.3% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 149,726 shares of the company's stock worth $5,893,000 after acquiring an additional 42,232 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,735,998 shares of the company's stock worth $68,329,000 after acquiring an additional 10,579 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on CRSP. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $81.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, June 27th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $56.00 to $42.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.31.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CRSP opened at $64.76 on Friday. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $71.13. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $47.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $42.72. The firm has a market cap of $5.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -14.33 and a beta of 1.82.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 71.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($1.43) EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, Director Simeon George bought 989,812 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 16th. The shares were bought at an average price of $52.03 per share, for a total transaction of $51,499,918.36. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 1,730,179 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $90,021,213.37. The trade was a 133.69% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Naimish Patel sold 3,932 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.94, for a total transaction of $141,316.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,068 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,083.92. The trade was a 39.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

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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