Traders Purchase High Volume of 89bio Put Options (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Traders acquired 12,935 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 1,544% compared to the typical daily volume of 787 put options.

Insider Buying and Selling at 89bio

In other news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. purchased 5,714,285 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at $171,100,291.25. This trade represents a 41.29 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 15,329 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.95, for a total transaction of $91,207.55. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 328,323 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,953,521.85. This represents a 4.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of 89bio

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in 89bio by 77.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,467 shares of the company's stock valued at $736,000 after acquiring an additional 43,384 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in 89bio in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,897,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in 89bio by 228.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 214,768 shares of the company's stock worth $1,590,000 after buying an additional 149,479 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in 89bio in the 4th quarter valued at $114,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in 89bio by 8.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,074,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,358,000 after buying an additional 160,356 shares during the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on ETNB. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of 89bio in a report on Thursday. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, March 14th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. They set an "outperform" rating on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $21.00 price target (down previously from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, 89bio presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $27.25.

89bio Price Performance

NASDAQ:ETNB traded up $0.04 on Friday, reaching $6.94. The stock had a trading volume of 906,074 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,318,245. The company has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.38 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $7.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.17. The company has a quick ratio of 11.66, a current ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. 89bio has a 1-year low of $4.16 and a 1-year high of $11.84.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.42). Research analysts forecast that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current year.

About 89bio

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.