89BIO Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 7,218 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 239% compared to the average volume of 2,128 put options.

89BIO Trading Up 0.1%

89BIO stock opened at $14.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 15.19 and a quick ratio of 15.19. 89BIO has a 1 year low of $4.16 and a 1 year high of $15.06. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $10.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.25.

89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.49) by ($0.22). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.48) EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that 89BIO will post -3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETNB has been the topic of several analyst reports. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of 89BIO from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 25th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of 89BIO from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of 89BIO from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Raymond James Financial downgraded shares of 89BIO from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright downgraded shares of 89BIO from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $14.50 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, September 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, 89BIO presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $25.81.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 89BIO news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,461 shares of 89BIO stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total transaction of $115,280.22. Following the transaction, the insider owned 309,364 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,409,191.28. The trade was a 3.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 89BIO

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its position in 89BIO by 25.9% during the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,330 shares during the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its position in 89BIO by 12.6% during the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 12,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 1,422 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in 89BIO by 2.1% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 74,371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its position in 89BIO by 0.6% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 258,123 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after acquiring an additional 1,540 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its position in 89BIO by 0.9% during the first quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 186,991 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,359,000 after acquiring an additional 1,584 shares during the last quarter.

About 89BIO

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.