Morgan Stanley Cuts Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Price Target to $6.40

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has lowered its price target for Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) from $7.00 to $6.40, maintaining an "overweight" rating, indicating a potential upside of 121.45% from the current price.
• Absci's stock has experienced a significant decline, down 17.7%, and currently trades around $2.89.
• Institutional investors own 52.05% of Absci's stock, indicating a strong interest from large investors despite the lower price target and stock performance issues.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Free Report) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $7.00 to $6.40 in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

ABSI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $9.00 target price on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut Absci from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Sunday, June 29th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price target on Absci from $5.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Absci presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $8.28.

Absci Price Performance

NASDAQ:ABSI traded down $0.09 on Monday, reaching $2.84. 4,042,333 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,723,154. The firm has a market cap of $361.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.09 and a beta of 2.01. Absci has a 52 week low of $2.01 and a 52 week high of $6.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.19.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by $0.02. Absci had a negative return on equity of 53.69% and a negative net margin of 2,232.13%. The business had revenue of $1.18 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 million. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Absci will post -0.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Absci news, insider Andreas Busch bought 50,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $3.04 per share, for a total transaction of $152,000.00. Following 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ethic Inc. acquired a new position in Absci during the second quarter worth $32,000. DKM Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Absci during the second quarter valued at about $51,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Absci by 17.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 314,858 shares of the company's stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 46,975 shares during the period. Woodline Partners LP lifted its position in shares of Absci by 32.9% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,391,245 shares of the company's stock worth $3,492,000 after purchasing an additional 344,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new stake in shares of Absci during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.05% of the company's stock.

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.