89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.42 EPS

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB - Get Free Report) posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.60) by ($0.42), Zacks reports.

89bio Trading Down 3.8 %

NASDAQ ETNB traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $8.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,823,598 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,615,853. 89bio has a 52-week low of $5.99 and a 52-week high of $16.63. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $8.75 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $942.40 million, a P/E ratio of -3.05 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 11.66 and a quick ratio of 11.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research started coverage on 89bio in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an "outperform" rating on the stock. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $21.00 price target (down from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a report on Friday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $29.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Raymond James upgraded 89bio to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, 89bio presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $30.29.

Insider Activity

In other 89bio news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total value of $71,149.87. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 271,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,764,196.17. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. purchased 5,714,285 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $8.75 per share, for a total transaction of $49,999,993.75. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at $171,100,291.25. This trade represents a 41.29 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 5,734,285 shares of company stock valued at $50,152,194. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company's stock.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.