Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Leerink Partners

Equities research analysts at Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm set an “outperform” rating and a $12.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 102.02% from the stock’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Truist Financial lifted their target price on Absci from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Absci in a research report on Thursday, May 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $9.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $4.10 target price on Absci in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Absci in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.52.

Absci Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ABSI opened at $5.94 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $926.05 million, a PE ratio of -7.16 and a beta of 2.44. Absci has a 52-week low of $2.24 and a 52-week high of $7.34. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.52.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $0.22 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.39 million. Absci had a negative return on equity of 66.32% and a negative net margin of 6,450.76%. On average, research analysts predict that Absci will post -0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andreas Busch purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. This trade represents a 31.11% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 10.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Absci

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Absci during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Essential Partners LLC raised its holdings in Absci by 113,850.0% in the 1st quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 9,116 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 9,108 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Absci by 91.2% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 5,385 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Absci by 45.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Absci in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. 52.05% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Absci

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.