Prime Medicine (NYSE:PRME) Trading Up 4.9% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Prime Medicine's stock price rose by 4.9% during mid-day trading, reaching a high of $3.75 before closing at $3.73, amidst a significant drop in trading volume.
• Several analysts have recently adjusted their ratings and price targets for Prime Medicine, with HC Wainwright downgrading it to "neutral" and Citigroup lowering its target price to $1.50.
• Insiders have been actively buying shares, with major shareholder Arch Venture Partners acquiring over 3 million shares, increasing their ownership stake by nearly 95%.

Prime Medicine, Inc. (NYSE:PRME - Get Free Report)'s share price rose 4.9% on Monday . The company traded as high as $3.75 and last traded at $3.73. Approximately 572,374 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 2,520,628 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PRME has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $1.50 price target (down previously from $10.00) on shares of Prime Medicine in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. JMP Securities cut their target price on Prime Medicine from $10.00 to $6.00 and set a "market outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Chardan Capital cut their target price on Prime Medicine from $12.00 to $10.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. HC Wainwright downgraded Prime Medicine from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $8.00 target price on shares of Prime Medicine in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $8.92.

Prime Medicine Stock Down 5.8%

The stock has a market cap of $436.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.58 and a beta of 2.39. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $3.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.41.

Insider Activity at Prime Medicine

In other news, major shareholder David R. Liu acquired 21,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 23rd. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $2.16 per share, for a total transaction of $45,360.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 20,219,945 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,675,081.20. This trade represents a 0.10% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Arch Venture Partners Xii, Llc acquired 3,030,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were purchased at an average price of $3.30 per share, for a total transaction of $9,999,990.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 6,230,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,559,990. This represents a 94.70% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 3,093,300 shares of company stock worth $10,110,240. Corporate insiders own 22.74% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Prime Medicine

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PRME. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Freedom Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Prime Medicine during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. 70.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Prime Medicine

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.