Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO) Shares Gap Down - What's Next?

Key Points

• Mesoblast shares fell sharply, opening at $12.48 versus a prior close of $13.28 and later trading near $12.16. The price remained below both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: Piper Sandler and Cantor Fitzgerald maintained “overweight” ratings, while Weiss Ratings upgraded the stock only to “sell (d-).” The overall consensus is “Hold,” with a $39 target price.
• Mesoblast reported a quarterly loss of $0.07 per share on $34.45 million in revenue, while institutional ownership remains limited at 1.43%. The company develops cellular medicines and markets Ryoncil for pediatric steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease.

Mesoblast Limited (NASDAQ:MESO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $13.28, but opened at $12.48. Mesoblast shares last traded at $12.1620, with a volume of 118,475 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MESO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Mesoblast from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Friday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Mesoblast in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $39.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of Mesoblast in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Mesoblast Stock Performance

The company's 50 day simple moving average is $15.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.09, a current ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Mesoblast (NASDAQ:MESO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, July 31st. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter. The company had revenue of $34.45 million during the quarter. As a group, research analysts forecast that Mesoblast Limited will post -0.05 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Mesoblast by 608.4% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 100,004 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,538,000 after acquiring an additional 85,888 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Mesoblast by 22.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 26,266 shares of the company's stock worth $404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,827 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Mesoblast by 14.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,413 shares of the company's stock worth $100,000 after purchasing an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd bought a new stake in Mesoblast during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 1.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Mesoblast

Mesoblast Limited is a regenerative medicine company that develops and commercializes cellular medicines for serious inflammatory and immune-mediated conditions. The company's platform is based primarily on specialized allogeneic mesenchymal lineage precursor cells, which are obtained from healthy adult donors and developed for use without patient-specific matching.

Mesoblast's lead commercial product, Ryoncil (remestemcel-L), is an off-the-shelf cell therapy approved in the United States for the treatment of steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease in pediatric patients.

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