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

Precision BioSciences (NASDAQ:DTIL)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by investment analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $60.00 price objective 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 target for the company in a research report on Friday, January 10th.

Precision BioSciences Trading Up 9.3 %

NASDAQ DTIL traded up $0.48 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $5.63. 196,558 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 791,781. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $4.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $7.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 9.22 and a quick ratio of 9.22. Precision BioSciences has a 12-month low of $3.61 and a 12-month high of $19.43. The firm has a market cap of $43.18 million, a P/E ratio of 93.85 and a beta of 1.51.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Michael Amoroso sold 36,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.67, for a total transaction of $172,033.46. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 107,087 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $500,096.29. This represents a 25.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider J. Jefferson Smith sold 10,287 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.79, for a total transaction of $49,274.73. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 87,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $418,837.60. This trade represents a 10.53 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 8,734 shares of company stock valued at $39,946. Insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Precision BioSciences

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Precision BioSciences by 40.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 65,974 shares of the company’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 19,088 shares in the last quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Precision BioSciences by 177.0% in the fourth quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 87,799 shares of the company’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 56,100 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Precision BioSciences by 10.9% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 702,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,322,000 after buying an additional 68,943 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Precision BioSciences in the fourth quarter worth about $146,000. Finally, Citadel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Precision BioSciences by 58.0% in the fourth quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC now owns 153,675 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 56,400 shares in the last quarter. 37.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Precision BioSciences

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.