Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report issued on Sunday.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on SPRO. Zacks Research lowered Spero Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Spero Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $5.00.

Spero Therapeutics Price Performance

SPRO stock opened at $2.55 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $143.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.23 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $2.29. Spero Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $0.51 and a 1 year high of $3.22.

Spero Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SPRO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $5.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.00 million. Spero Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 108.11% and a negative return on equity of 125.91%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Spero Therapeutics will post -1.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Esther Rajavelu sold 40,270 shares of Spero Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.37, for a total value of $95,439.90. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 869,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,060,596.50. The trade was a 4.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 5.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spero Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPRO. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Spero Therapeutics during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in shares of Spero Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in shares of Spero Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $70,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Spero Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $90,000. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Spero Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $93,000. 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.