Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) Downgraded by B. Riley Financial to “Hold”

B. Riley Financial cut shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CNTA. Leerink Partners reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up from $36.00) on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Stephens lowered Centessa Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research cut Centessa Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC downgraded Centessa Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Centessa Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.00.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4%

CNTA stock opened at $39.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.82 billion, a PE ratio of -21.78 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $26.62 and a 200-day moving average of $25.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 10.57 and a current ratio of 10.56. Centessa Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $9.60 and a one year high of $40.26.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 6th. The company reported ($0.48) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.38) by ($0.10). As a group, analysts expect that Centessa Pharmaceuticals will post -1.6 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Iqbal J. Hussain sold 38,951 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.15, for a total value of $979,617.65. Following the sale, the insider owned 57,645 shares in the company, valued at $1,449,771.75. This represents a 40.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Karen M. Anderson sold 41,076 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.12, for a total value of $1,237,209.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 62,085 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,870,000.20. The trade was a 39.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 349,073 shares of company stock worth $9,429,412. Company insiders own 7.09% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd purchased a new position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 7,580.0% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,536 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 1,516 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 42.4% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Knott David M Jr purchased a new stake in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $100,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.01% of the company’s stock.

More Centessa Pharmaceuticals News

Here are the key news stories impacting Centessa Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Eli Lilly agreed to acquire Centessa for $38 cash per share plus a contingent value right worth up to ~$9, valuing the deal up to ~$7.8B — the takeover premium is the main upward driver for CNTA. Lilly to acquire Centessa — CNBC
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large call-option purchases have been reported (multiple days of elevated call volume), indicating speculative/leveraged bullish positioning around the deal and near-term upside. High volume call options — AmericanBankingNews
• Neutral Sentiment: Leerink Partners reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and raised its price target to $40 (from $36) — a modest endorsement but effectively sets expectations near the deal price. Leerink reaffirmation — Benzinga
• Negative Sentiment: Several sell-side firms (Wolfe Research, Needham, Stephens and others) have downgraded CNTA to Hold from higher ratings this week — analyst downgrades can increase selling pressure and reduce conviction among non-deal investors. Wolfe downgrade — AmericanBankingNews
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms have launched investigations and shareholder class-action alerts assessing whether the sale price/process is fair to public shareholders — heightened legal/transaction risk can weigh on sentiment and vote outcomes. Shareholder investigation — PR Newswire
• Negative Sentiment: Large put-option purchases were also reported (very high put volume on 4/1), and the company last reported an EPS miss for the quarter — both signal hedging/speculation to the downside and highlight operational/earnings weakness.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc is a global clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative therapies across multiple disease areas. The company operates a modular R&D network, bringing together a portfolio of independent, specialist research entities under a single corporate umbrella. This structure is designed to accelerate decision‐making and resource allocation while leveraging deep scientific expertise in each therapeutic domain.

Centessa’s pipeline spans oncology, immunology, neuroscience, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, as well as rare genetic disorders.