Prime Medicine (NYSE:PRME) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Key Points

• Prime Medicine's stock price increased from $4.04 to $4.35 due to significant insider buying activity, with major shareholder Arch Venture Partners purchasing over 3 million shares.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Prime Medicine, with price targets ranging from $1.50 to $8.00, reflecting uncertainty about the stock's future performance.
• Institutional investors hold a substantial 70.37% of Prime Medicine's stock, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.

Prime Medicine, Inc. (NYSE:PRME - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Monday following insider buying activity. The stock had previously closed at $4.04, but opened at $4.35. Prime Medicine shares last traded at $4.56, with a volume of 960,713 shares changing hands.

Specifically, major shareholder Arch Venture Partners Xii, Llc purchased 3,030,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was bought at an average cost of $3.30 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,990.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 6,230,300 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $20,559,990. This represents a 94.70% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRME has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $1.50 price target (down from $10.00) on shares of Prime Medicine in a report on Tuesday, May 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Prime Medicine in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. JMP Securities lowered their price target on shares of Prime Medicine from $10.00 to $6.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $8.00 price target on shares of Prime Medicine in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Chardan Capital reduced their price objective on shares of Prime Medicine from $16.00 to $12.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $9.25.

Prime Medicine Stock Down 5.1%

The company has a market cap of $557.49 million, a P/E ratio of -2.02 and a beta of 2.38. The firm's 50 day moving average is $2.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.32.

Institutional Trading of Prime Medicine

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of PRME. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its position in Prime Medicine by 96.5% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 883,129 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,579,000 after acquiring an additional 433,653 shares during the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prime Medicine by 272.5% during the fourth quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 403,739 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,179,000 after purchasing an additional 295,365 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Prime Medicine by 1,419.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 243,795 shares of the company's stock valued at $485,000 after purchasing an additional 227,749 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Prime Medicine by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,977,828 shares of the company's stock valued at $11,616,000 after purchasing an additional 170,541 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the fourth quarter valued at about $423,000. Institutional investors own 70.37% of the company's stock.

Prime Medicine Company Profile

Prime Medicine, Inc, a biotechnology company, delivers genetic therapies to address the spectrum of diseases by deploying gene editing technology. The company offers Prime Editors with a Prime Editor protein, comprising a fusion between a Cas protein and a reverse transcriptase enzyme; and a pegRNA, which targets the Prime Editor to a specific genomic location and provides a template for making the desired edit to the target DNA sequence.