CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Shares Down 4% – Should You Sell?

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) fell 4% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $37.62 and last traded at $37.74. 1,644,505 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 1% from the average session volume of 1,625,210 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CRSP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CRISPR Therapeutics to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $84.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Chardan Capital decreased their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $94.00 to $84.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CRISPR Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.33 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.88 and a beta of 1.85. The company’s 50-day moving average is $41.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.01.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 981.54% and a negative return on equity of 18.46%. On average, analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CRISPR Therapeutics

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 1,198 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $50,819.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 8,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,516.46. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 18,360 shares of the 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 owns 171,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,473,037.60. This trade represents a 9.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.7% in 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 increased its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 10.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,743,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $344,145,000 after acquiring an additional 816,789 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 39.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,811,708 shares of the company’s stock valued at $150,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,074,238 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 599,304 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,735,998 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,329,000 after purchasing an additional 10,579 shares during the period. 69.20% of the stock is owned by 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.