Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:SLN) Stock Now Rated “Hold” by Wall Street Brokerages

Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:SLN) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.33.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Silence Therapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $20.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. William Blair lowered shares of Silence Therapeutics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Silence Therapeutics in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Silence Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Silence Therapeutics from $25.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Silence Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 628.2% in the first quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC now owns 172,157 shares of the company’s stock worth $907,000 after purchasing an additional 148,514 shares in the last quarter. 5AM Venture Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at $5,228,676. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 29.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 115,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 26,449 shares during the period. AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Silence Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth about $138,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Silence Therapeutics by 11.8% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 286,698 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 30,358 shares during the last quarter. 98.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Silence Therapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Silence Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Merck will pay $20 per American depositary share (ADS), representing a 130% premium to Silence Therapeutics’ October 16 closing price and an 82% premium to its 30-day volume-weighted average price. The deal provides shareholders with immediate cash value and was the primary catalyst for the stock’s surge. Silence Therapeutics jumps 59% on Merck takeover
• Positive Sentiment: Merck said the acquisition will strengthen its rare-disease pipeline through Silence’s RNA interference, or siRNA, technology and lead development assets. The strategic interest from a major pharmaceutical company validates Silence’s platform and development potential. Merck to Acquire Silence Therapeutics
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity preceded or accompanied the announcement, with 12,157 calls purchased versus an average daily volume of 1,086, indicating significant speculative interest in a potential takeover.
• Neutral Sentiment: Trading in SLN was temporarily halted for pending news before the acquisition announcement, reflecting the material nature of the transaction. Germany’s Merck to Buy Silence Therapeutics
• Negative Sentiment: An investor-rights law firm is investigating whether Silence’s board obtained a fair price for shareholders. Such reviews can introduce deal uncertainty, although the proposed $20 cash consideration currently anchors the stock near the offer value. Halper Sadeh investigation

Silence Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of SLN stock opened at $19.58 on Tuesday. Silence Therapeutics has a one year low of $4.19 and a one year high of $19.61. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.45 and its 200 day moving average is $9.72. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.30 and a beta of 1.45.

Silence Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SLN) last issued its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by ($0.12). Silence Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 106.94% and a negative net margin of 8,943.86%. As a group, research analysts predict that Silence Therapeutics will post -0.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Silence Therapeutics

Silence Therapeutics plc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing medicines that use RNA interference (RNAi) to selectively reduce the production of disease-causing proteins. The company’s approach is designed to act at the genetic level by targeting specific messenger RNA molecules before they are translated into proteins.

Silence’s research is supported by its proprietary mRNAi GOLD platform, which is intended to enable the development and delivery of small interfering RNA (siRNA) medicines.