Oric Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORIC) Shares Climb 8.5% on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Oric Pharmaceuticals shares rose 8.5% to about $12.58 after JPMorgan raised its price target from $23 to $26 and maintained an overweight rating.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: 14 analysts rate the stock Buy, one rates it Hold, and one rates it Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $21.17.
• Institutional investors own approximately 95.05% of the company, while insiders have sold 91,000 shares worth about $1.24 million over the past quarter.

Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORIC - Get Free Report)'s stock price was up 8.5% during trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $23.00 to $26.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Oric Pharmaceuticals traded as high as $12.63 and last traded at $12.5750. 552,917 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 1,688,024 shares. The stock had previously closed at $11.59.

ORIC has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Oric Pharmaceuticals from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Oric Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, October 5th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Oric Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. They set a "buy" rating and a $26.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Oric Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price target on Oric Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Fourteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $21.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Oric Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Dominic Piscitelli sold 13,400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.53, for a total transaction of $181,302.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 69,828 shares in the company, valued at approximately $944,772.84. This represents a 16.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 91,000 shares of company stock worth $1,243,532 over the last quarter. 5.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Oric Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Oric Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $73,904,000. Siren L.L.C. lifted its holdings in Oric Pharmaceuticals by 197.6% in the 1st quarter. Siren L.L.C. now owns 2,998,192 shares of the company's stock valued at $37,987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,990,617 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Oric Pharmaceuticals by 19.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,471,290 shares of the company's stock worth $18,637,000 after buying an additional 244,060 shares in the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its stake in shares of Oric Pharmaceuticals by 791.3% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 1,215,293 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,162,000 after buying an additional 1,078,943 shares during the period. Finally, Braidwell LP grew its stake in Oric Pharmaceuticals by 7.7% in the 2nd quarter. Braidwell LP now owns 1,214,540 shares of the company's stock worth $13,153,000 after acquiring an additional 86,500 shares during the period. 95.05% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Oric Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 8.9%

The company's 50 day simple moving average is $12.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $10.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.31 billion, a PE ratio of -9.31 and a beta of 0.99.

Oric Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ORIC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.38) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.36) by ($0.02). As a group, analysts predict that Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.53 EPS for the current year.

About Oric Pharmaceuticals

Oric Pharmaceuticals, Inc NASDAQ: ORIC is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for cancer. The company's research is centered on mechanisms that enable tumors to resist or evade treatment, with the goal of restoring sensitivity to established cancer therapies and improving patient outcomes.

Oric's pipeline has included investigational small-molecule therapies designed to target cancer biology and treatment resistance. These programs include ORIC-533, an oral inhibitor of CD73 being studied in oncology, and ORIC-944, an oral allosteric inhibitor of EED, a component of the polycomb repressive complex 2.

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