Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN) Hits New 1-Year High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Silence Therapeutics shares surged to a new 52-week high of $19.60, up sharply from the prior close of $8.68, with nearly 16 million shares traded.
• Analysts are broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a $53.50 target price; Morgan Stanley recently raised its target to $32 and maintained an overweight rating.
• Despite strong institutional ownership of 98.73%, the clinical-stage biotech reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss and continues to show negative profitability metrics, including a net margin of -8,943.86%.

Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:SLN - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $19.60 and last traded at $19.5850, with a volume of 15,992,139 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $8.68.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SLN shares. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Silence Therapeutics from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $53.50.

Silence Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $9.62. The stock has a market cap of $1.18 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 1.45.

Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.12). Silence Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 106.94% and a negative net margin of 8,943.86%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR will post -0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SLN. 5AM Venture Management LLC acquired a new stake in Silence Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,228,676. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 11.8% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 286,698 shares of the company's stock worth $1,511,000 after purchasing an additional 30,358 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 29.6% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 115,918 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 26,449 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 628.2% during the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 172,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $907,000 after purchasing an additional 148,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Seven Fleet Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 6.2% during the first quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 156,759 shares of the company's stock valued at $826,000 after purchasing an additional 9,159 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.73% of the company's stock.

Silence Therapeutics Company Profile

Silence Therapeutics plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing medicines that use RNA interference (RNAi) to selectively reduce the production of disease-causing proteins. The company's approach is designed to act at the genetic level by targeting specific messenger RNA molecules before they are translated into proteins.

Silence's research is supported by its proprietary mRNAi GOLD platform, which is intended to enable the development and delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) medicines.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.