Brokerages Set CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Target Price at $77.93

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.93.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CRSP. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday, December 20th. StockNews.com raised CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $84.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $59.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total transaction of $826,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 181,540 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,002,854. This trade represents a 7.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 1,089 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.28, for a total transaction of $50,398.92. Following the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 62,597 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,896,989.16. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 50,382 shares of company stock worth $2,744,179 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 8.1% in the third quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 300,589 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,122,000 after buying an additional 22,583 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,008,214 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,383,000 after acquiring an additional 35,196 shares during the period. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth $2,375,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $140,611,000 after purchasing an additional 599,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $1,825,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of CRSP opened at $39.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.91 and a beta of 1.62. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $38.20 and a 1 year high of $91.10. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $47.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.52.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.42) by $0.41. The company had revenue of $0.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.65 million. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 118.13% and a negative return on equity of 12.15%. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.41) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.