Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Sells 113,745 Shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG $CRSP

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd lowered its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) by 42.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 156,605 shares of the company’s stock after selling 113,745 shares during the period. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd’s holdings in CRISPR Therapeutics were worth $8,212,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CRSP. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 76.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,764,532 shares of the company’s stock worth $134,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,600 shares during the period. SR One Capital Management LP boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 94.4% in the third quarter. SR One Capital Management LP now owns 2,038,763 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,132,000 after acquiring an additional 989,812 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 35.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,270,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,082,000 after acquiring an additional 859,334 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,706,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 98.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 593,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,459,000 after acquiring an additional 294,222 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CRSP. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Monday, May 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.47.

CRISPR Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CRSP opened at $51.84 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $52.03 and its 200 day moving average is $53.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.00 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.33 and a beta of 1.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 17.96 and a current ratio of 17.97. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a 52 week low of $39.58 and a 52 week high of $78.48.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, March 31st. The company reported ($1.28) EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $1.46 million during the quarter. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 13,856.54% and a negative return on equity of 25.66%. Sell-side analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -4.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CRISPR Therapeutics news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 3,182 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.78, for a total transaction of $148,853.96. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 94,308 shares in the company, valued at $4,411,728.24. This represents a 3.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 10,020 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.78, for a total value of $468,735.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 255,501 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,952,336.78. The trade was a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 46,535 shares of company stock worth $2,311,300 over the last three months. Insiders own 4.30% of the company’s stock.

About CRISPR Therapeutics

CRISPR Therapeutics AG is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of gene-editing therapies based on the CRISPR/Cas9 platform. The company applies its proprietary technology to modify genes in human cells, aiming to create durable treatments for a range of serious diseases. Its research and development efforts focus on both ex vivo and in vivo applications, enabling targeted correction or disruption of disease-causing genes.

Among its lead programs is CTX001, an ex vivo edited cell therapy designed to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia in collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.