Ashford Capital Management Inc. Takes Position in GeneDx Holdings Corp. $WGS

Key Points

• Ashford Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake of 94,216 shares in GeneDx Holdings Corp. valued at approximately $8.34 million during the first quarter of the year.
• GeneDx posted earnings of $0.50 per share for the recent quarter, significantly exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.10 per share.
• Insider transactions included CFO and CEO selling shares, with insiders collectively selling around 561,633 shares worth over $67 million in the last 90 days.

Ashford Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in GeneDx Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WGS - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 94,216 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,344,000. Ashford Capital Management Inc. owned approximately 0.34% of GeneDx at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in WGS. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GeneDx in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of GeneDx by 151.7% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of GeneDx in the fourth quarter valued at about $50,000. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of GeneDx by 3,223.5% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 565 shares of the company's stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gen Wealth Partners Inc purchased a new stake in shares of GeneDx in the fourth quarter valued at about $81,000. 61.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of GeneDx from $78.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of GeneDx from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Piper Sandler set a $120.00 price target on shares of GeneDx and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and set a $115.00 price target (up from $88.00) on shares of GeneDx in a report on Monday, June 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of GeneDx from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $101.63.

Insider Activity at GeneDx

In other GeneDx news, Director Jason Ryan sold 38,072 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $127.30, for a total value of $4,846,565.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 103,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,148,053.20. This trade represents a 26.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Casdin Capital, Llc sold 500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.90, for a total transaction of $60,450,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,007,164 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $363,566,127.60. This trade represents a 14.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 561,263 shares of company stock valued at $67,504,348. 29.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

GeneDx Price Performance

GeneDx stock traded down $0.96 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $127.22. The company had a trading volume of 341,712 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,041,266. GeneDx Holdings Corp. has a 1 year low of $28.86 and a 1 year high of $131.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.87 and a quick ratio of 2.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 2,544.40 and a beta of 2.04. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $101.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $90.34.

GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.40. GeneDx had a net margin of 0.39% and a return on equity of 16.51%. The company had revenue of $102.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $86.00 million. GeneDx has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that GeneDx Holdings Corp. will post 0.97 EPS for the current year.

About GeneDx

GeneDx Holdings Corp., through its subsidiaries, provides genomics-related diagnostic and information services. The company offers Centrellis, an AI-driven health intelligence platform that integrates digital tools and artificial intelligence allowing scientists to ingest and synthesize clinical and genomic data to deliver comprehensive health insights.