Insider Selling: Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) Insider Sells 25,240 Shares of Stock

Key Points

• Insider sale: Esther Rajavelu sold 25,240 Spero Therapeutics shares on May 4 at an average of $2.51 (total $63,352), trimming her stake by 2.49% to 986,851 shares, and the sale was made to cover tax withholding from vested equity awards.
• Strong quarterly results: Spero reported EPS of $0.53 (beating estimates by $0.73) and revenue of $41.3M versus $26.0M expected, while the stock trades around $2.50 with a market cap of about $146.5M.
• Mixed investor sentiment: Institutional investors own ~25.6% of the stock (including a new GSK stake ~ $21.4M), but analysts' consensus is "Reduce" with one Hold and one Sell rating.

Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRO - Get Free Report) insider Esther Rajavelu sold 25,240 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.51, for a total value of $63,352.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 986,851 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,476,996.01. This trade represents a 2.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Esther Rajavelu also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 6th, Esther Rajavelu sold 87,917 shares of Spero Therapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.36, for a total value of $207,484.12.

Spero Therapeutics Stock Performance

SPRO traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, reaching $2.53. 617,278 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 466,746. The company's 50 day moving average is $2.51 and its 200-day moving average is $2.41. The company has a market cap of $146.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.09 and a beta of 1.43. Spero Therapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $0.57 and a twelve month high of $3.22.

Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.73. Spero Therapeutics had a net margin of 12.83% and a return on equity of 22.53%. The firm had revenue of $41.30 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $26.00 million.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spero Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Spero Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $283,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Spero Therapeutics by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,989,855 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,741,000 after purchasing an additional 39,474 shares during the period. Ionic Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spero Therapeutics by 39.2% in the third quarter. Ionic Capital Management LLC now owns 208,725 shares of the company's stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 58,725 shares during the period. GSK plc acquired a new stake in Spero Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $21,414,000. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in Spero Therapeutics by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 210,151 shares of the company's stock worth $490,000 after buying an additional 19,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 25.60% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SPRO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Spero Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Spero Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Reduce".

Spero Therapeutics Company Profile

Spero Therapeutics is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies to address multidrug‐resistant bacterial infections. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company aims to advance a pipeline of oral and intravenous antibiotic candidates designed to treat serious infectious diseases that pose significant public health challenges.

The company's lead candidate, tebipenem HBr, is an oral carbapenem antibiotic being developed for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections caused by resistant Gram‐negative pathogens.

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