Brokerages Set Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO) Target Price at $39.44

Shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.4444.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada cut Agios Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $57.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. Zacks Research raised shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, December 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 22nd.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AGIO opened at $27.19 on Thursday. Agios Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $22.24 and a fifty-two week high of $46.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.88 and a beta of 0.89.

Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.78) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.93) by $0.15. Agios Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 28.35% and a negative net margin of 895.86%.The company had revenue of $12.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.49 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $16.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 43.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Agios Pharmaceuticals will post -6.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider James William Burns sold 2,932 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total transaction of $79,427.88. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 31,718 shares in the company, valued at approximately $859,240.62. This represents a 8.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Brian Goff sold 18,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total transaction of $506,664.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 136,583 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,700,033.47. This trade represents a 12.04% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 37,005 shares of company stock worth $1,064,531 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agios Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of AGIO. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 31.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 684,669 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $22,772,000 after buying an additional 163,796 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Agios Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at $2,696,000. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. boosted its stake in Agios Pharmaceuticals by 19.6% in the second quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 1,279,754 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $42,565,000 after acquiring an additional 209,900 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 30.7% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 505,225 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,804,000 after purchasing an additional 118,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 71.1% during the second quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 447,019 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,868,000 after purchasing an additional 185,798 shares in the last quarter.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2008 as a spin-out from research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Agios focuses on understanding and targeting cellular metabolism to develop novel therapies for cancer and rare genetic diseases. The company’s scientific platform integrates genomic discovery, metabolic profiling and precision medicine approaches to identify and advance small-molecule candidates that correct or exploit metabolic dysfunction.

Agios’s lead products are IDH (isocitrate dehydrogenase) inhibitors that target specific cancer mutations.