Bicara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCAX) Stock Price Down 7% After Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• Bicara Therapeutics shares fell 7% to about $8.50 after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from “sell” to “strong sell.” Trading volume was approximately 345,399 shares, below the average daily volume.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed: Wedbush lowered its price target to $24, while BTIG maintained a $39 target and a “buy” rating. Despite recent downgrades, the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with a target price of $30.91.
• Insiders sold 58,750 shares worth approximately $1.55 million over the past 90 days, while several major institutional investors—including BlackRock, Janus Henderson, and Orbimed—expanded their positions.

Shares of Bicara Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BCAX - Get Free Report) dropped 7% during trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen downgraded the stock from a sell rating to a strong sell rating. The company traded as low as $8.54 and last traded at $8.4950. Approximately 345,399 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 52% from the average daily volume of 725,434 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.13.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush dropped their price target on Bicara Therapeutics from $33.00 to $24.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Bicara Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. BTIG Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Bicara Therapeutics in a report on Monday, October 19th. HSBC cut Bicara Therapeutics to an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Bicara Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $30.91.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Bicara Therapeutics news, CEO Claire Mazumdar sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.98, for a total transaction of $279,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 362,152 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,133,012.96. This trade represents a 2.69% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Ryan Cohlhepp sold 18,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.98, for a total transaction of $524,625.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 181,641 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,082,315.18. This represents a 9.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 58,750 shares of company stock valued at $1,554,800 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 13.80% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bicara Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Siren L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Bicara Therapeutics by 11.2% in the 1st quarter. Siren L.L.C. now owns 5,802,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $115,421,000 after purchasing an additional 586,001 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Bicara Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $114,250,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in Bicara Therapeutics by 26.2% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,339,218 shares of the company's stock valued at $66,350,000 after purchasing an additional 692,933 shares during the period. Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new stake in Bicara Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $93,957,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Bicara Therapeutics by 219.1% during the 1st quarter. Orbimed Advisors LLC now owns 667,300 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,273,000 after purchasing an additional 458,200 shares in the last quarter.

Bicara Therapeutics Stock Performance

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $19.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.16. The company has a market capitalization of $555.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.71 and a beta of -0.32.

Bicara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCAX - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.82) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.82). On average, analysts forecast that Bicara Therapeutics Inc. will post -3.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Bicara Therapeutics Company Profile

Bicara Therapeutics Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing bifunctional therapies for the treatment of solid tumors. The company's approach is designed to combine tumor-targeting activity with immune-system modulation in a single therapeutic candidate.

Bicara's lead product candidate is ficerafusp alfa, also known as BCA101. The investigational therapy is designed to target epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) on cancer cells while simultaneously trapping transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), a signaling protein that can contribute to tumor growth and immune suppression.

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