Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Hits New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $37.30 and last traded at $36.7950, with a volume of 1270067 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.79.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on BEAM shares. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Beam Therapeutics from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Tudor Pickering set a $39.00 target price on Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on Beam Therapeutics from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Beam Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.85.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 16.99 and a current ratio of 16.99. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.39 and a 200 day moving average of $29.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -54.48 and a beta of 2.18.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.91) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.03) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $31.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.98 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 29.00% and a negative net margin of 39.66%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 323.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($1.23) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.16 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Fmr Llc sold 251,488 shares of Beam Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $8,867,466.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 854,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,132,596.58. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Beam Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hollencrest Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $43,000. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich bought a new stake in Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 4,370.5% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 1,923 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Beam Therapeutics by 48.7% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,158 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Beam Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.68% of the company’s stock.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: BEAM) is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing precision genetic medicines through its pioneering base editing platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional research facilities in Philadelphia, the company focuses on engineering molecular editors capable of making precise single-nucleotide changes in DNA. By harnessing its proprietary base editing technology, Beam aims to correct or disrupt disease-causing genetic variants at their source, offering the potential for novel therapies in areas with significant unmet medical need.

Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from Harvard University and the Broad and Whitehead Institutes, Beam was co-founded by leading academic researcher David R.