Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Cuts Position in Absci Corporation $ABSI

Key Points

• Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA cut its stake in Absci by 22.1% in Q4, selling 488,496 shares and leaving 1,719,849 shares (about 1.14% of the company, valued at $6.0M).
• Insider Andreas Busch bought 100,000 shares at $2.29 (a 31.11% increase in his holdings), while CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares at $2.99.
• Absci missed quarterly expectations—EPS of $(0.23) vs. $(0.16) expected and revenue of $0.65M vs. $1.38M—remains unprofitable, and analysts have a consensus "Hold" with an average price target of $6.44.

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its holdings in Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI - Free Report) by 22.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 1,719,849 shares of the company's stock after selling 488,496 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned approximately 1.14% of Absci worth $6,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of ABSI. ARK Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Absci by 21.1% in the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,162,773 shares of the company's stock valued at $36,975,000 after buying an additional 2,116,845 shares during the period. Heights Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Absci in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,081,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Absci by 12.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,281,918 shares of the company's stock valued at $22,137,000 after acquiring an additional 830,336 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Absci by 24.4% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,191,011 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,701,000 after acquiring an additional 625,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in Absci in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,575,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andreas Busch purchased 100,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 421,446 shares of the company's stock, valued at $965,111.34. This represents a 31.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,334,567 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,920,355.33. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Absci Stock Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:ABSI opened at $3.23 on Friday. Absci Corporation has a 52-week low of $2.24 and a 52-week high of $5.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $3.25. The company has a market capitalization of $494.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.80 and a beta of 2.00.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 24th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.07). Absci had a negative return on equity of 62.33% and a negative net margin of 4,113.68%.The company had revenue of $0.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.38 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Absci Corporation will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ABSI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Absci from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $4.32 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Absci presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $6.44.

About Absci

Absci Corporation NASDAQ: ABSI is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company's Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci's offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.

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