Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) Shares Pass Below Two Hundred Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Spero Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRO) shares passed below its 200-day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $2.41 and traded as low as $1.08. Spero Therapeutics shares last traded at $1.19, with a volume of 11,754,579 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SPRO. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Spero Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Spero Therapeutics in a report on Friday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

Spero Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $68.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 4.96 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $2.31 and a 200 day moving average of $2.41.

Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.05. Spero Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.90% and a return on equity of 35.58%. The company had revenue of $0.26 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.26 million.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Esther Rajavelu sold 25,240 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.51, for a total value of $63,352.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 986,851 shares in the company, valued at $2,476,996.01. This represents a 2.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 2.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Spero Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in shares of Spero Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $306,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Spero Therapeutics by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 210,151 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 19,200 shares during the last quarter. GSK plc bought a new stake in Spero Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $21,414,000. Shay Capital LLC acquired a new position in Spero Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $120,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Spero Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $283,000. Institutional investors own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

About Spero Therapeutics

Spero Therapeutics is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel therapies to address multidrug‐resistant bacterial infections. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the company aims to advance a pipeline of oral and intravenous antibiotic candidates designed to treat serious infectious diseases that pose significant public health challenges.

The company’s lead candidate, tebipenem HBr, is an oral carbapenem antibiotic being developed for the treatment of complicated urinary tract infections caused by resistant Gram‐negative pathogens.