PepGen's (PEPG) Sell (D-) Rating Reiterated at Weiss Ratings

Key Points

• Weiss Ratings has reiterated a "sell (D-)" rating for PepGen (NASDAQ: PEPG), indicating ongoing concerns about the company's stock performance.
• Despite the sell rating from Weiss, several other analysts have issued a "buy" rating, with target prices ranging from $6.00 to $12.00, suggesting mixed perceptions of the company's potential.
• PepGen's stock has experienced significant fluctuations, with a 52-week low of $0.88 and a high of $9.77, currently opening at $4.87.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "sell (d-)" rating restated by equities research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

PEPG has been the subject of several other research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $6.00 target price on shares of PepGen in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of PepGen from $7.00 to $9.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of PepGen from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of PepGen from $8.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.40.

PepGen Stock Performance

Shares of PEPG opened at $4.87 on Wednesday. PepGen has a fifty-two week low of $0.88 and a fifty-two week high of $9.77. The company has a market capitalization of $159.74 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.65 and a beta of 1.96. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $1.65.

PepGen (NASDAQ:PEPG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.70) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.15. Equities research analysts forecast that PepGen will post -2.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at PepGen

In related news, major shareholder Science Enterprises Plc Oxford acquired 200,000 shares of PepGen stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $3.20 per share, for a total transaction of $640,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 4,955,388 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,857,241.60. This trade represents a 4.21% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of PepGen

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of PepGen by 54.7% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 53,868 shares of the company's stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 19,056 shares during the period. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of PepGen by 68.8% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,350,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,897,000 after purchasing an additional 550,000 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen in the first quarter valued at about $139,000. Finally, Woodline Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of PepGen in the first quarter valued at about $1,097,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.01% of the company's stock.

About PepGen

PepGen Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses on the development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for use in the treatment of severe neuromuscular and neurologic diseases. Its lead product candidate is PGN-EDO51, an EDO peptide that is in Phase 2 clinical trial to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients.

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