Merit Financial Group LLC Takes Position in CRISPR Therapeutics AG $CRSP

Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 10,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $225,000. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC grew its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 42,197 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,052,000 after purchasing an additional 9,685 shares during the last quarter. Slow Capital Inc. increased its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 15.6% during the 2nd quarter. Slow Capital Inc. now owns 75,396 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,667,000 after purchasing an additional 10,152 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 59.7% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 129,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,302,000 after buying an additional 48,412 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intellectus Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $284,000. 69.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CRSP shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wedbush cut their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $13.00 to $9.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Robert W. Baird reduced their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $52.00 to $44.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $78.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $87.00) on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CRISPR Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.35.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, General Counsel James R. Kasinger sold 1,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.60, for a total transaction of $71,661.60. Following the sale, the general counsel directly owned 83,402 shares in the company, valued at $5,554,573.20. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 50,895 shares of CRISPR Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.91, for a total value of $3,456,279.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 254,201 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,262,789.91. This represents a 16.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 56,213 shares of company stock worth $3,810,458 over the last three months. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CRSP stock opened at $57.99 on Thursday. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a twelve month low of $30.04 and a twelve month high of $78.48. The stock has a market cap of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.37 and a beta of 1.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $55.23 and a 200 day moving average of $57.92.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 10th. The company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.32) by $0.15. The business had revenue of $0.89 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.74 million. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 21.23% and a negative net margin of 1,273.70%. On average, research analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CRISPR Therapeutics Profile

CRISPR Therapeutics AG is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of gene-editing therapies based on the CRISPR/Cas9 platform. The company applies its proprietary technology to modify genes in human cells, aiming to create durable treatments for a range of serious diseases. Its research and development efforts focus on both ex vivo and in vivo applications, enabling targeted correction or disruption of disease-causing genes.

Among its lead programs is CTX001, an ex vivo edited cell therapy designed to treat sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent β-thalassemia in collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.