Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Shares Down 5.9% – Here’s What Happened

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) shares traded down 5.9% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $28.08 and last traded at $28.07. 562,773 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 1,278,666 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.84.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on BEAM. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday, January 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Beam Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.89.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.84 and a beta of 1.92. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.89.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.25) by $0.16. Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 41.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.22%. The firm had revenue of $30.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.73 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 90.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 908,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,306,628.25. This represents a 3.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Christine Bellon sold 1,241 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $30,627.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 102,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,541,250.24. This trade represents a 1.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Beam Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,239,123 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,330,000 after purchasing an additional 31,000 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its position in Beam Therapeutics by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 7,068,029 shares of the company’s stock worth $175,287,000 after buying an additional 536,930 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 11.4% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 3,957,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,149,000 after buying an additional 404,782 shares during the period. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. raised its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 11.4% in the 4th quarter. Nikko Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 3,957,611 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,109,000 after acquiring an additional 404,782 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 12.5% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,929,557 shares of the company’s stock valued at $96,274,000 after purchasing an additional 437,402 shares during the period. 99.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.