AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) Price Target Raised to $66.00 at HC Wainwright

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) had its price objective boosted by equities researchers at HC Wainwright from $51.00 to $66.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target points to a potential upside of 24.93% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on ANAB. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of AnaptysBio in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price target on AnaptysBio from $80.00 to $56.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen cut AnaptysBio from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of AnaptysBio in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of AnaptysBio in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.56.

AnaptysBio Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ANAB opened at $52.83 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.50. AnaptysBio has a 52 week low of $13.99 and a 52 week high of $57.74. The firm has a market cap of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.73 and a beta of 0.32.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last announced its earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The biotechnology company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.69. AnaptysBio had a negative return on equity of 1,101.24% and a negative net margin of 49.94%.The firm had revenue of $108.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.09 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AnaptysBio will post -6.08 earnings per share for the current year.

AnaptysBio declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, November 21st that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 9.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at AnaptysBio

In related news, Director Magda Marquet sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.23, for a total value of $530,530.00. Following the sale, the director owned 9,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $478,923.90. The trade was a 52.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Paul F. Lizzul sold 3,650 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.71, for a total transaction of $163,191.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,881,754.48. This represents a 7.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 156,280 shares of company stock worth $7,254,939 in the last 90 days. 33.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AnaptysBio

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of AnaptysBio by 153.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,011 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 18,165 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC bought a new stake in AnaptysBio during the second quarter worth about $241,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of AnaptysBio during the second quarter worth approximately $334,000. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 26.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,854 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 3,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of AnaptysBio in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $240,000.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic antibody product candidates in immunology and inflammation. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Diego, California, AnaptysBio leverages a proprietary somatic hypermutation platform to rapidly generate and refine human antibodies with optimized efficacy and safety profiles. The company’s technology is designed to accelerate target validation and candidate selection across a range of immune-mediated conditions.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple clinical-stage programs addressing dermatological and inflammatory disorders.