Zacks Research Downgrades AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) to Hold

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on ANAB. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of AnaptysBio from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of AnaptysBio in a research report on Monday, March 30th. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of AnaptysBio from $95.00 to $93.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial raised shares of AnaptysBio to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price objective on shares of AnaptysBio from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AnaptysBio presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.18.

AnaptysBio Stock Performance

Shares of ANAB opened at $51.24 on Tuesday. AnaptysBio has a fifty-two week low of $11.40 and a fifty-two week high of $72.36. The company has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a PE ratio of -47.44 and a beta of 0.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $61.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $53.76.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.84) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.64) by ($1.20). AnaptysBio had a negative return on equity of 1,101.24% and a negative net margin of 11.53%.The business had revenue of $25.56 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that AnaptysBio will post -0.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AnaptysBio announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, March 27th that allows the company to repurchase $100,000.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the biotechnology company to reacquire up to 5,352,316.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John P. Schmid sold 20,645 shares of AnaptysBio stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.11, for a total transaction of $1,158,390.95. Following the transaction, the director owned 31,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,774,310.42. The trade was a 39.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Daniel Faga sold 17,679 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.61, for a total transaction of $1,089,203.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 495,965 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,556,403.65. This trade represents a 3.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 33.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AnaptysBio

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ANAB. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of AnaptysBio by 153.3% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 30,011 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $558,000 after buying an additional 18,165 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of AnaptysBio by 26.9% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 16,854 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $374,000 after purchasing an additional 3,571 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in AnaptysBio by 1,631.6% during the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 247,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,497,000 after purchasing an additional 233,325 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in AnaptysBio during the 2nd quarter worth $528,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in AnaptysBio in the 2nd quarter worth $3,348,000.

AnaptysBio Company Profile

AnaptysBio, Inc is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutic antibody product candidates in immunology and inflammation. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Diego, California, AnaptysBio leverages a proprietary somatic hypermutation platform to rapidly generate and refine human antibodies with optimized efficacy and safety profiles. The company’s technology is designed to accelerate target validation and candidate selection across a range of immune-mediated conditions.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple clinical-stage programs addressing dermatological and inflammatory disorders.