Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd Makes New Investment in CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP)

Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd purchased a new position in CRISPR Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 368,811 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,516,000. CRISPR Therapeutics makes up approximately 0.9% of Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Contrarius Group Holdings Ltd owned approximately 0.43% of CRISPR Therapeutics at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in CRISPR Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $359,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 23,969 shares of the company’s stock worth $943,000 after buying an additional 3,736 shares in the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC grew its stake in CRISPR Therapeutics by 115.3% in the 4th quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 34,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,345,000 after buying an additional 18,298 shares in the last quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Privium Fund Management B.V. now owns 34,997 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CRISPR Therapeutics by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 10,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $420,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 69.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at CRISPR Therapeutics

In related news, COO Julianne Bruno sold 1,198 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $50,819.16. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 8,263 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,516.46. This represents a 12.66 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Samarth Kulkarni sold 9,973 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.42, for a total transaction of $423,054.66. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 180,890 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,673,353.80. The trade was a 5.23 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 32,381 shares of company stock valued at $1,608,243. 4.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

CRISPR Therapeutics Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ CRSP opened at $41.94 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a PE ratio of -9.60 and a beta of 1.76. CRISPR Therapeutics AG has a 12 month low of $36.52 and a 12 month high of $75.91.

CRISPR Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CRSP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.44) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.15) by $0.71. CRISPR Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 981.54% and a negative return on equity of 18.46%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CRISPR Therapeutics AG will post -5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CRSP shares. TD Cowen raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $35.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $53.00 to $48.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $66.00 to $57.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $60.00 to $99.00 in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on shares of CRISPR Therapeutics from $89.00 to $82.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $73.11.

CRISPR Therapeutics Company Profile

CRISPR Therapeutics is a gene-editing company focused on developing transformative gene-based medicines for serious diseases using its proprietary CRISPR/Cas9 platform. CRISPR/Cas9 is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows for precise, directed changes to genomic DNA. CRISPR Therapeutics has established a portfolio of therapeutic programs across a broad range of disease areas including hemoglobinopathies, oncology, regenerative medicine and rare diseases.