Weiss Ratings Reaffirms “Sell (D-)” Rating for 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)‘s stock had its “sell (d-)” rating reissued by equities researchers at Weiss Ratings in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on ETNB. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of 89bio in a report on Thursday, March 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $25.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $21.00 target price (down previously from $29.00) on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of 89bio in a research report on Friday, March 14th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $11.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.43.

89bio Price Performance

NASDAQ ETNB opened at $9.62 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 11.66, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.26. The company has a market cap of $1.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -3.31 and a beta of 1.30. 89bio has a 1 year low of $4.16 and a 1 year high of $11.84.

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The company reported ($0.49) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.01. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.54) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that 89bio will post -3.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 15,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.95, for a total value of $91,207.55. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 328,323 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,953,521.85. This represents a 4.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 89bio

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ETNB. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of 89bio during the 4th quarter valued at $114,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in 89bio by 10.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 358,574 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,804,000 after purchasing an additional 32,867 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in 89bio by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 26,185 shares of the company’s stock worth $205,000 after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 89bio by 32.0% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 29,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $228,000 after purchasing an additional 7,070 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in 89bio by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 129,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 4,125 shares during the period.

About 89bio

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.