Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) Upgraded to “Buy” at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $35.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $2.00.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a neutral rating on shares of Assembly Biosciences in a research report on Thursday, June 20th.

Assembly Biosciences Stock Down 16.3 %

NASDAQ:ASMB opened at $16.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $15.52 and a 200-day moving average of $14.50. Assembly Biosciences has a 52 week low of $7.69 and a 52 week high of $20.04.

Assembly Biosciences (NASDAQ:ASMB) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.98) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.96) by $0.98. The company had revenue of $8.53 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.96 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assembly Biosciences will post -7.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder Alexander Schornstein bought 4,562 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $12.29 per share, with a total value of $56,066.98. Following the purchase, the insider now owns 688,675 shares in the company, valued at $8,463,815.75. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Assembly Biosciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ASMB. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Assembly Biosciences by 131.0% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 13,558 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $184,000 after buying an additional 7,690 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Assembly Biosciences by 39.2% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 54,911 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $753,000 after purchasing an additional 15,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Armistice Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Assembly Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $6,421,000. Institutional investors own 19.92% of the company’s stock.

About Assembly Biosciences

Assembly Biosciences, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops therapeutic candidates for the treatment of viral diseases. It develops ABI-5366, a long-acting herpes simplex virus (HSV) helicase-primase inhibitor that is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial to treat recurrent genital herpes; ABI-1179, which is in Phase 1a/1b clinical trial for the treatment of recurrent genital herpes; and ABI-6250, a small molecule orally bioavailable hepatitis delta virus entry inhibitor that is in Phase 1a clinical trial.