Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP)

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $81.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target indicates a potential upside of 70.56% from the company's previous close.

CRSP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays cut their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $56.00 to $42.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 9th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen raised CRISPR Therapeutics to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, May 16th. Finally, Chardan Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $71.75.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:CRSP traded up $0.79 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $47.49. 15,070,469 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,857,545. The stock has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.51 and a beta of 1.75. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $30.04 and a 12-month high of $63.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $39.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.50.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The company reported ($1.58) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by ($0.31). CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 20.08% and a negative net margin of 1,023.64%. The firm's revenue was up 71.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.43) earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other news, insider Naimish Patel sold 3,932 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.94, for a total transaction of $141,316.08. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,068 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $218,083.92. The trade was a 39.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 4.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 182.9% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,952,751 shares of the company's stock worth $66,452,000 after acquiring an additional 1,262,560 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 13.3% during the first quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 10,165,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $345,929,000 after buying an additional 1,192,336 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company's stock valued at $150,029,000 after buying an additional 1,074,238 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company's stock valued at $344,145,000 after buying an additional 816,789 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 6,769.1% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 583,733 shares of the company's stock valued at $19,864,000 after buying an additional 575,235 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.