Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENTA) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $20.3333.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Enanta Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $14.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Westpark Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 target price on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, November 14th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ENTA opened at $13.01 on Friday. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $4.09 and a 52 week high of $17.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.85. The firm has a market cap of $375.47 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.40 and a beta of 0.95.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last released its earnings results on Monday, November 17th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.87) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.13) by $0.26. The company had revenue of $15.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.60 million. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 93.76% and a negative net margin of 125.36%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -4.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jay R. Luly sold 4,743 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.23, for a total value of $67,492.89. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 858,026 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,209,709.98. The trade was a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Tara Lynn Kieffer sold 2,106 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.23, for a total transaction of $29,968.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 30,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $435,722.60. This trade represents a 6.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,961 shares of company stock valued at $170,149. 13.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Enanta Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ENTA. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,346,932 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,435,000 after purchasing an additional 449,945 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 857,412 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $6,482,000 after buying an additional 6,522 shares during the period. Commodore Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $9,576,000. Stonepine Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in the second quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC now owns 604,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,567,000 after acquiring an additional 13,324 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 674.7% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 357,109 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after acquiring an additional 311,010 shares during the period. 94.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company headquartered in Watertown, Massachusetts, specializing in the discovery and development of novel, small-molecule drugs targeting viral diseases. Leveraging a proprietary chemistry platform, Enanta has built extensive expertise in designing potent inhibitors of viral proteases and polymerases. The company initially gained recognition through partnerships focused on hepatitis C virus (HCV), where its protease inhibitors formed a key component of ABBVIE’s direct?acting antiviral regimens.

Building on its HCV experience, Enanta has expanded its pipeline to address respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and other viral infections.