Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Sell” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) from a strong sell rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

ABEO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Abeona Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Abeona Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Abeona Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Abeona Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of ABEO stock opened at $6.42 on Friday. Abeona Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $4.00 and a 1 year high of $7.54. The company has a current ratio of 5.89, a quick ratio of 5.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $6.07 and its 200-day moving average is $5.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $365.88 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.62 and a beta of 1.34.

Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.30) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.33) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $8.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Abeona Therapeutics will post -0.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Abeona Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Joseph Walter Vazzano sold 39,067 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.36, for a total value of $209,399.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 518,437 shares in the company, valued at $2,778,822.32. This represents a 7.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Also, CEO Vishwas Seshadri sold 67,971 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total transaction of $473,078.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,306,108 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,090,511.68. The trade was a 4.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 312,769 shares of company stock valued at $1,887,560. 7.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Abeona Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ABEO. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 49.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 200,450 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $954,000 after buying an additional 66,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 129.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,105,862 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $6,282,000 after acquiring an additional 623,243 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 43.0% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 14,310 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $81,000 after acquiring an additional 4,305 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 255.6% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 831,132 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,721,000 after purchasing an additional 597,373 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Abeona Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

About Abeona Therapeutics

Abeona Therapeutics is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of gene and cell therapies for severe, life‐threatening rare diseases and oncology indications. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Abeona leverages proprietary viral and non‐viral delivery platforms to correct or compensate for underlying genetic deficiencies. The company’s research efforts target pediatric neurodegenerative disorders as well as debilitating dermatologic conditions with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead clinical programs include separate AAV‐based gene therapies for CLN1 and CLN3 forms of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, alongside an ex vivo autologous cell therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.