CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) Sees Significant Decline in Short Interest

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,870,000 shares, a drop of 5.0% from the May 31st total of 15,660,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 11.1 days.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ CRSP opened at $53.90 on Thursday. CRISPR Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $37.55 and a 12-month high of $91.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $56.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.33.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The company reported ($1.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.35) by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $0.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.67) earnings per share. CRISPR Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was down 99.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics will post -5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 3,366 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.09, for a total transaction of $188,798.94. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,745 shares in the company, valued at approximately $378,327.05. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 3,366 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.09, for a total value of $188,798.94. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,745 shares in the company, valued at $378,327.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 19,582 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.91, for a total transaction of $1,173,157.62. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 208,122 shares in the company, valued at $12,468,589.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CRISPR Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CRSP. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $201,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 1.5% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 136,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,179,000 after buying an additional 2,061 shares during the last quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 111.1% in the third quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 1,330 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Seven Eight Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $734,000. Finally, WealthPlan Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 16,063.8% in the third quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 9,375 shares of the company’s stock valued at $426,000 after buying an additional 9,317 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CRSP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $82.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 17th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $86.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Friday, June 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CRISPR Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.71.

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.