Merit Financial Group LLC Makes New $678,000 Investment in CRISPR Therapeutics AG $CRSP

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 10,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd lifted its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 76.9% during the second quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,764,532 shares of the company’s stock valued at $134,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,201,600 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CRISPR Therapeutics by 98.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,071,883 shares of the company’s stock worth $100,789,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025,979 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 35.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,270,596 shares of the company’s stock valued at $159,082,000 after buying an additional 859,334 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $19,772,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $17,331,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.23, for a total transaction of $3,613,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 134,201 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,082,926.23. The trade was a 30.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on CRISPR Therapeutics from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 11th. Citizens Jmp lowered their price objective on CRISPR Therapeutics from $86.00 to $80.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price target on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 13th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $64.24.

CRISPR Therapeutics Stock Up 2.1%

CRSP opened at $54.64 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.90 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.27. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a 52-week low of $30.04 and a 52-week high of $78.48. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.38 and a beta of 1.72.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The company reported ($1.37) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by ($0.22). CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 26.31% and a negative net margin of 16,569.77%.The company had revenue of $0.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.72 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.01) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 97.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 EPS for the current year.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company 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.