Needham & Company LLC Cuts Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Price Target to $8.00

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reduced its price target for Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) from $9.00 to $8.00, but maintains a "buy" rating, indicating a potential upside of 169.36% from the previous close.
• Absci reported a quarterly loss of ($0.24) earnings per share, falling short of the consensus estimate of ($0.19), while revenues for the quarter totaled $0.59 million, significantly below analyst expectations of $1.39 million.
• Insider Andreas Busch purchased 50,000 shares of Absci at an average price of $3.04, increasing his total ownership by 18.03% to 327,264 shares.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) had its target price reduced by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $9.00 to $8.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target points to a potential upside of 169.36% from the company's previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Absci from $7.00 to $6.40 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 28th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Absci from $5.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Absci from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $8.08.

Absci Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ABSI opened at $2.97 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $378.85 million, a PE ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 2.02. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.87 and a 200-day moving average of $3.17. Absci has a one year low of $2.01 and a one year high of $6.33.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The company reported ($0.24) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.19) by ($0.05). Absci had a negative return on equity of 53.69% and a negative net margin of 2,232.13%. The company had revenue of $0.59 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.39 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Absci will post -0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andreas Busch bought 50,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $3.04 per share, with a total value of $152,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 327,264 shares in the company, valued at approximately $994,882.56. The trade was a 18.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in Absci by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 153,554 shares of the company's stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 41,847 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Absci by 45.9% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,690 shares of the company's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Absci by 19.9% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 147,188 shares of the company's stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 24,420 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of Absci by 145.4% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 46,882 shares of the company's stock valued at $120,000 after buying an additional 27,775 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey raised its position in shares of Absci by 63.5% during the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 26,255 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,000 after buying an additional 10,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.05% of the company's stock.

Absci Company Profile

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.

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