Fred Alger Management LLC Sells 2,211,391 Shares of Absci Corporation $ABSI

Key Points

• Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its stake in Absci Corporation by 34%, selling 2,211,391 shares in the first quarter, leaving them with approximately 3.37% ownership valued at $10.78 million.
• A number of institutional investors have increased their holdings in Absci, with AQR Capital Management raising its stake by 279.4% during the same quarter.
• Analysts' ratings for Absci have varied, with Wall Street Zen downgrading the stock to a "strong sell" and Morgan Stanley lowering the price target from $6.40 to $5.89.

Fred Alger Management LLC reduced its stake in Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Free Report) by 34.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,294,032 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,211,391 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC owned 3.37% of Absci worth $10,778,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of ABSI. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in Absci by 42.1% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 44,027 shares of the company's stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 13,048 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Absci by 47.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 750,719 shares of the company's stock worth $1,967,000 after buying an additional 241,779 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in Absci by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 29,333 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 3,747 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Absci by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 655,659 shares of the company's stock worth $1,718,000 after buying an additional 22,188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets bought a new position in Absci in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. 52.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on ABSI shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Absci from $6.40 to $5.89 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 18th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Absci from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lowered their target price on shares of Absci from $9.00 to $8.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.98.

Absci Stock Down 6.9%

Shares of ABSI stock traded down $0.19 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $2.55. 7,030,901 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,913,857. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $2.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $2.83. Absci Corporation has a 12-month low of $2.01 and a 12-month high of $6.33. The stock has a market cap of $381.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.71 and a beta of 2.01.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $0.59 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.39 million. Absci had a negative net margin of 2,737.94% and a negative return on equity of 60.21%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Absci Corporation will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Absci

In other news, insider Andreas Busch purchased 50,000 shares of Absci stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was bought at an average price of $3.04 per share, with a total value of $152,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 327,264 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $994,882.56. The trade was a 18.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 10.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Absci

Absci Corporation operates as a data-first generative artificial intelligence (AI) drug creation company in the United States. The company combines AI with scalable wet lab technologies to create biologics for patients. Its integrated drug creation platform is designed to improve upon traditional biologic drug discovery by using AI to simultaneously optimize multiple drug characteristics that may be important to development and therapeutic benefit.