CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Trading Up 11.3%

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) shot up 11.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $57.96 and last traded at $56.97. 1,121,338 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 36% from the average session volume of 1,749,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $51.17.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. TheStreet upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from a "d+" rating to a "c" rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. JMP Securities restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $73.93.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 8.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $4.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.46 and a beta of 1.80. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.10.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($1.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.35) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $0.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.53 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.67) EPS. CRISPR Therapeutics's revenue for the quarter was down 99.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at CRISPR Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 19,582 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total value of $1,173,157.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 208,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,468,589.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 19,582 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total transaction of $1,173,157.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 208,122 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,468,589.02. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 1,913 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.67, for a total value of $152,408.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 57,371 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,570,747.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 83,992 shares of company stock worth $6,132,335. Insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. bought a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1,000.0% during the 4th quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC now owns 550 shares of the company's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 66.7% during the first quarter. Riggs Asset Managment Co. Inc. now owns 500 shares of the company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company's stock.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.