Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates "Overweight" Rating for 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "overweight" rating reiterated by stock analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price target suggests a potential upside of 169.52% from the stock's previous close.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on ETNB. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of 89bio from $15.00 to $14.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of 89bio from $29.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $31.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.83.

89bio Price Performance

Shares of ETNB traded up $0.11 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $10.76. 408,168 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,325,243. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.00 and a 200-day moving average of $10.49. 89bio has a 52 week low of $6.57 and a 52 week high of $22.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.35 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 20.04 and a current ratio of 20.04.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 29th. The company reported ($0.50) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.01). On average, analysts forecast that 89bio will post -2.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 89bio news, CEO Rohan Palekar sold 4,477 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.76, for a total value of $48,172.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 486,889 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,238,925.64. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Rohan Palekar sold 4,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.76, for a total transaction of $48,172.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 486,889 shares in the company, valued at $5,238,925.64. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. bought 1,350,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $15.35 per share, with a total value of $20,722,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 12,431,584 shares of the company's stock, valued at $190,824,814.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 4.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 89bio

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ETNB. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in 89bio by 33.9% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 249,752 shares of the company's stock valued at $941,000 after acquiring an additional 63,280 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of 89bio in the first quarter worth $34,000. Rhumbline Advisers purchased a new position in shares of 89bio in the first quarter worth $42,000. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 89bio by 8.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 922,230 shares of the company's stock worth $3,476,000 after buying an additional 70,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of 89bio in the first quarter worth $178,000.

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.