Insider Buying: Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO) Director Acquires 1,981,890 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Gregory George purchased 1,981,890 Mesoblast shares on April 9 at $8.59 each (≈$17.02M), increasing his holdings to 13,586,890 shares (a 17.08% rise); he also bought 2,324,072 shares on April 10 and 4,000,000 on April 4.
• MESO stock jumped 3.1% to $15 and has a $1.94B market cap; the company reported last-quarter EPS of -$0.16 on $25.67M revenue and carries a mixed analyst consensus with an average rating of "Hold."

Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ:MESO - Get Free Report) Director Gregory George acquired 1,981,890 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $8.59 per share, with a total value of $17,024,435.10. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 13,586,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $116,711,385.10. This trade represents a 17.08% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Gregory George also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, April 10th, Gregory George bought 2,324,072 shares of Mesoblast stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $1.48 per share, with a total value of $3,439,626.56.
• On Saturday, April 4th, Gregory George bought 4,000,000 shares of Mesoblast stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of $1.42 per share, with a total value of $5,680,000.00.

Mesoblast Stock Up 3.1%

MESO stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, hitting $15.00. 200,215 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 282,594. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.78 and a beta of 2.19. Mesoblast Limited has a 52-week low of $9.75 and a 52-week high of $21.50. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $15.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10.

Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter. The business had revenue of $25.67 million during the quarter. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Mesoblast Limited will post -0.7 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Mesoblast

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Mesoblast in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in Mesoblast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $479,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Mesoblast by 80.5% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 25,215 shares of the company's stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 11,242 shares in the last quarter. &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in Mesoblast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $334,000. Finally, Opal Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Mesoblast during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $307,000. 1.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Mesoblast in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Mesoblast presently has an average rating of "Hold".

About Mesoblast

Mesoblast Limited is a global leader in allogeneic cellular medicines, focused on developing treatments for inflammatory and immunologic diseases. Founded in 2004 by Dr. Silviu Itescu, the company builds on proprietary mesenchymal lineage cell technology to create off-the-shelf, donor-derived therapies. These therapies are designed to modulate immune responses and promote tissue repair in conditions where existing medical options are limited or ineffective.

The company's most advanced product, Alofisel® (darvadstrocel), has been approved in Europe for the treatment of complex perianal fistulas in adults with Crohn's disease.

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