CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Upgraded to “Outperform” at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) from an in-line rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has $99.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of $60.00.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Chardan Capital cut their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial upped their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $100.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.50.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CRSP opened at $49.72 on Friday. CRISPR Therapeutics has a one year low of $36.52 and a one year high of $91.10. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.89 and a 200-day moving average of $46.17. The company has a market capitalization of $4.26 billion, a PE ratio of -17.57 and a beta of 1.67.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 12.15% and a negative net margin of 118.13%. As a group, research analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CRISPR Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.10, for a total transaction of $826,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 181,540 shares in the company, valued at $10,002,854. This represents a 7.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 4.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRSP. ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $353,180,000 after acquiring an additional 1,474,439 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company’s stock worth $150,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,238 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock worth $344,145,000 after acquiring an additional 816,789 shares during the period. Baker BROS. Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 743.1% in the 3rd quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 843,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,608,000 after acquiring an additional 743,075 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its position 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 buying an additional 599,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

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.