HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL)

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 price target on the stock.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Precision BioSciences from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $34.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Stock Up 0.2 %

DTIL stock opened at $4.54 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.83 million, a P/E ratio of 75.68 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 9.22, a quick ratio of 9.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $6.59. Precision BioSciences has a 1-year low of $3.61 and a 1-year high of $15.97.

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The company reported ($3.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.09) by ($1.11). The company had revenue of $3.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.28 million. Precision BioSciences had a negative return on equity of 23.69% and a net margin of 11.48%. Analysts expect that Precision BioSciences will post -1.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Precision BioSciences

In other Precision BioSciences news, insider J. Jefferson Smith sold 10,287 shares of Precision BioSciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total value of $49,274.73. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 87,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $418,837.60. The trade was a 10.53 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 36,838 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.67, for a total transaction of $172,033.46. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $500,096.29. The trade was a 25.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 48,243 shares of company stock valued at $227,424 in the last quarter. Insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC bought a new position in Precision BioSciences in the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Samalin Investment Counsel LLC bought a new stake in shares of Precision BioSciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $59,000. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in Precision BioSciences by 22.0% in the fourth quarter. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 15,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 2,805 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Precision BioSciences in the fourth quarter worth $67,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Precision BioSciences during the fourth quarter valued at $146,000. 37.99% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Precision BioSciences Company Profile

Precision BioSciences, Inc, an advanced gene editing company, develops in vivo gene editing therapies for gene edits, including gene elimination, insertion, and excision in the United States. The company offers ARCUS, a genome editing platform to DNA genome insertion, deletion, and repair. It also provides PBGENE-HBV for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) to eliminate covalently closed circular DNA with direct cuts and edits as well as to inactivate integrated HBV DNA with the goal of long-lasting reductions in hepatitis B surface antigen; PBGENE-PMM for the treatment of m.3243 associated primary mitochondrial myopathy (PMM) which is expected to submit an IND and/or CTA.