Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Shares Up 7.9% Following Analyst Upgrade

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) shot up 7.9% during trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $24.00 to $25.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Beam Therapeutics traded as high as $26.84 and last traded at $27.09. 1,184,373 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 1,146,942 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.10.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on BEAM. Leerink Partners raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $27.00 to $39.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Leerink Partnrs upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Beam Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.00.

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Insider Transactions at Beam Therapeutics

In other news, insider Christine Bellon sold 1,241 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $30,627.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 102,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,541,250.24. This represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 908,659 shares of the company's stock, valued at $24,306,628.25. This represents a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 4.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 9,597 shares of the company's stock valued at $238,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,999 shares of the company's stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 496 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 21,396 shares of the company's stock valued at $524,000 after buying an additional 516 shares in the last quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 11,438 shares of the company's stock valued at $284,000 after buying an additional 909 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 137,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,417,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.68% of the company's stock.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $2.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.18 and a beta of 1.91. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $27.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.02.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.25) by $0.16. Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 41.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.22%. The company had revenue of $30.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.73 EPS. Beam Therapeutics's revenue was down 90.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.