89bio’s (ETNB) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

HC Wainwright reiterated their buy rating on shares of 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $21.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $29.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of 89bio in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James raised shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.29.

89bio Stock Performance

NASDAQ ETNB opened at $9.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $979.54 million, a P/E ratio of -3.17 and a beta of 1.17. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $8.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $8.47. 89bio has a twelve month low of $5.99 and a twelve month high of $16.63. The company has a quick ratio of 11.66, a current ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 6th. The company reported ($1.02) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by ($0.42). As a group, research analysts forecast that 89bio will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at 89bio

In related news, CEO Rohan Palekar bought 5,000 shares of 89bio stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $7.89 per share, for a total transaction of $39,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 471,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,718,052.04. This trade represents a 1.07 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total transaction of $71,149.87. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,764,196.17. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have purchased 5,734,285 shares of company stock worth $50,152,194. Corporate insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On 89bio

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in 89bio by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 16,514,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $129,177,000 after buying an additional 1,355,838 shares during the period. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in 89bio by 27.7% in the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 10,202,696 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,785,000 after buying an additional 2,211,052 shares during the period. RTW Investments LP lifted its holdings in 89bio by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 7,478,061 shares of the company’s stock valued at $58,478,000 after buying an additional 99,513 shares during the period. Deep Track Capital LP lifted its holdings in 89bio by 134.2% in the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 6,478,249 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,660,000 after buying an additional 3,711,737 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 89bio by 13.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,692,331 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,514,000 after buying an additional 686,054 shares during the period.

About 89bio

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.