Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Stock Price Up 5.8% - What's Next?

Key Points

• Beam Therapeutics shares rose 5.8% to approximately $29.98 in mid-day trading, although volume was 92% below the stock’s average daily volume.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.00, despite some downgrades and a “sell” rating.
• The company reported weaker-than-expected quarterly results, including an EPS loss of $1.18 versus estimates of $1.11 and revenue of $0.49 million versus expectations of $16.37 million; insiders have also sold roughly $10.5 million of stock over the past 90 days.

Shares of Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) rose 5.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $29.85 and last traded at $29.9760. 162,384 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 2,074,123 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.33.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on BEAM shares. Tudor Pickering set a $39.00 price objective on Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $47.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 16th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 14.57 and a quick ratio of 14.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.10 and a beta of 2.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.76.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($1.18) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.11) by ($0.07). Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 30.71% and a negative net margin of 54.75%.The business had revenue of $0.49 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.37 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.00) earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 94.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Beam Therapeutics

In other Beam Therapeutics news, insider Fmr Llc sold 251,488 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $8,867,466.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 854,583 shares in the company, valued at $30,132,596.58. This represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Amy Simon sold 16,667 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.74, for a total transaction of $429,008.58. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 85,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,205,815.04. The trade was a 16.28% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 301,527 shares of company stock valued at $10,468,500. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BEAM. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Beam Therapeutics by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,467,189 shares of the company's stock valued at $345,590,000 after acquiring an additional 1,428,355 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Beam Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $308,796,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 30.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,228,529 shares of the company's stock worth $144,935,000 after purchasing an additional 1,219,871 shares during the last quarter. ARCH Venture Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Beam Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $155,771,929,000. Finally, California State Teachers Retirement System increased its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 3,228.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,586,612 shares of the company's stock worth $123,093,000 after purchasing an additional 3,478,871 shares in the last quarter. 99.68% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics, Inc NASDAQ: BEAM is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing precision genetic medicines through its pioneering base editing platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional research facilities in Philadelphia, the company focuses on engineering molecular editors capable of making precise single-nucleotide changes in DNA. By harnessing its proprietary base editing technology, Beam aims to correct or disrupt disease-causing genetic variants at their source, offering the potential for novel therapies in areas with significant unmet medical need.

Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from Harvard University and the Broad and Whitehead Institutes, Beam was co-founded by leading academic researcher David R.

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