Citigroup Has Lowered Expectations for CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Stock Price

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by research analysts at Citigroup from $89.00 to $82.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Citigroup's price objective points to a potential upside of 71.15% from the company's previous close.

CRSP has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen raised CRISPR Therapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $35.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised CRISPR Therapeutics from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $60.00 to $99.00 in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Barclays lifted their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CRISPR Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.40.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of CRSP traded down $2.52 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $47.91. The company had a trading volume of 2,671,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,436,036. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $42.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $46.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.96 and a beta of 1.67. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $36.52 and a 1 year high of $91.10.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 18.46% and a negative net margin of 981.54%. Equities analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 18,360 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.20, for a total transaction of $1,013,472.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 171,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,473,037.60. The trade was a 9.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 4.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,973,064 shares of the company's stock worth $353,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,474,439 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company's stock worth $344,145,000 after purchasing an additional 816,789 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company's stock worth $150,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074,238 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 25.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,992,988 shares of the company's stock worth $140,611,000 after purchasing an additional 599,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,376,166 shares of the company's stock worth $111,632,000 after purchasing an additional 23,075 shares in the last quarter. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

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.