Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Saturday morning.

DNA has been the topic of several other research reports. BTIG Research cut their target price on Ginkgo Bioworks from $9.00 to $5.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ginkgo Bioworks in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ginkgo Bioworks presently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Ginkgo Bioworks Trading Down 13.1%

Shares of Ginkgo Bioworks stock opened at $8.97 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $7.32 and a 200 day moving average of $8.76. Ginkgo Bioworks has a 12 month low of $5.37 and a 12 month high of $17.58. The firm has a market cap of $555.11 million, a PE ratio of -1.67 and a beta of 1.77.

Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($1.42) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.80) by $0.38. The company had revenue of $33.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.57 million. Ginkgo Bioworks had a negative return on equity of 53.15% and a negative net margin of 215.41%.

Insider Transactions at Ginkgo Bioworks

In related news, insider Jason R. Kelly sold 109,767 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.40, for a total value of $702,508.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 316,483 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,025,491.20. The trade was a 25.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Reshma P. Shetty sold 124,727 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.43, for a total value of $801,994.61. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 436,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,806,193.46. The trade was a 22.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 542,981 shares of company stock worth $3,548,999 over the last three months. Company insiders own 9.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ginkgo Bioworks

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of DNA. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 113.1% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,427,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,137,000 after purchasing an additional 757,535 shares during the period. Prescott Group Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,503,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 38.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,292,071 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,737,000 after purchasing an additional 358,231 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 28,457.3% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 228,744 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 227,943 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in shares of Ginkgo Bioworks by 86.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 489,418 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 226,861 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.63% of the company’s stock.

Ginkgo Bioworks Company Profile

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc is a synthetic biology company that designs custom microbes for customers across a range of industries. Utilizing a proprietary organism foundry platform, the company engineers cells to produce high-value chemicals, enzymes, and other biological materials. By integrating automation, data analytics and machine learning, Ginkgo Bioworks seeks to accelerate the development of biologically derived solutions at industrial scale.

The company’s services span the entire development cycle, from genetic design and strain optimization to fermentation and downstream processing.