89BIO Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 7,218 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 239% compared to the typical volume of 2,128 put options.

89BIO Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ETNB opened at $14.85 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $10.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.25. The company has a quick ratio of 15.19, a current ratio of 15.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of -4.11 and a beta of 1.27. 89BIO has a 52-week low of $4.16 and a 52-week high of $15.06.

89BIO (NASDAQ:ETNB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported ($0.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.49) by ($0.22). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.48) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that 89BIO will post -3.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,461 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.02, for a total value of $115,280.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 309,364 shares in the company, valued at $3,409,191.28. This trade represents a 3.27% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On 89BIO

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Osaic Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 25.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 6,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 1,330 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 338.6% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 14,066 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 10,859 shares during the last quarter. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new position in shares of 89BIO in the second quarter worth approximately $30,102,000. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of 89BIO in the second quarter worth approximately $451,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of 89BIO by 59.9% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,249,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,275,000 after buying an additional 468,002 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ETNB has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James Financial lowered shares of 89BIO from a “strong-buy” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of 89BIO from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of 89BIO from $30.00 to $29.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of 89BIO from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89BIO in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, 89BIO presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $25.81.

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.