Insider Selling: Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) Insider Sells $23,171.12 in Stock

Crescent Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBIO) insider Jan Pinkas sold 1,288 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.99, for a total transaction of $23,171.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $400,079.61. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards.

Crescent Biopharma Stock Performance

Shares of CBIO stock traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $17.50. 227,100 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 235,713. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $19.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $15.01. Crescent Biopharma, Inc. has a 12-month low of $8.72 and a 12-month high of $27.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $482.30 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.60 and a beta of 1.17.

Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.70) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.85) by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $1.04 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.36 million. On average, research analysts expect that Crescent Biopharma, Inc. will post -3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Crescent Biopharma from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $29.00 target price on shares of Crescent Biopharma in a report on Thursday, February 26th. HC Wainwright reduced their price target on shares of Crescent Biopharma from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Crescent Biopharma from a “sell (e)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Crescent Biopharma has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crescent Biopharma

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma by 279.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 102,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 75,618 shares during the period. NEXTBio Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma during the fourth quarter worth about $4,422,000. BVF Inc. IL increased its stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma by 98.1% during the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,748,763 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $32,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,360,900 shares during the period. Fcpm Iii Services B.V. purchased a new position in Crescent Biopharma during the fourth quarter worth about $19,899,000. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Crescent Biopharma during the first quarter worth about $2,814,000. 75.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Crescent Biopharma

Crescent Biopharma, Inc (NASDAQ: CBIO) is a clinical‐stage immuno‐oncology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for patients with solid tumors. The company’s research strategy centers on combination approaches that enhance anti‐tumor immune responses by simultaneously targeting multiple pathways implicated in immune evasion and tumor growth.

The company’s lead candidate, CPB-201, is a bifunctional fusion protein designed to block programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) while neutralizing transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), with the goal of restoring T-cell activity and reducing tumor fibrosis.