CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) Shares Down 1.8% on Insider Selling

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)’s share price fell 1.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $56.75 and last traded at $56.90. 296,744 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 1,831,639 shares. The stock had previously closed at $57.96.

Specifically, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.51, for a total value of $3,025,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 187,377 shares in the company, valued at $11,338,182.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.51, for a total value of $3,025,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 187,377 shares in the company, valued at $11,338,182.27. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raju Prasad sold 3,524 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.69, for a total transaction of $256,159.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 6,476 shares in the company, valued at $470,740.44. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 133,992 shares of company stock valued at $9,157,835 over the last 90 days. 4.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRSP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $55.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Mizuho boosted their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $82.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on CRISPR Therapeutics from $57.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. TheStreet raised CRISPR Therapeutics from a “d+” rating to a “c” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Chardan Capital upped their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $110.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CRISPR Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.29.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 1.1 %

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $63.34.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The company reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.95. The company had revenue of $201.20 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($1.41) EPS. CRISPR Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up 3253.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -6.24 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CRISPR Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. ARK Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics by 19.2% during the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 8,536,104 shares of the company’s stock worth $534,360,000 after buying an additional 1,372,986 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,134,450 shares of the company’s stock worth $384,017,000 after purchasing an additional 48,938 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 158.5% during the second quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,014,551 shares of the company’s stock worth $183,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,848,437 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 33.6% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,993,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,689,000 after purchasing an additional 752,132 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 6.4% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,798,581 shares of the company’s stock worth $126,580,000 after purchasing an additional 168,844 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

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.