Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Invests $1.14 Million in LENZ Therapeutics, Inc. $LENZ

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of LENZ Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LENZ) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 200,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LENZ. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in LENZ Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,019,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics by 307.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,023,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,378,000 after purchasing an additional 772,411 shares during the period. Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,298,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of LENZ Therapeutics by 108.8% in the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,122,738 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,907,000 after purchasing an additional 585,000 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of LENZ Therapeutics by 6,756.1% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 587,084 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,346,000 after purchasing an additional 578,521 shares in the last quarter. 54.32% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LENZ has been the subject of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of LENZ Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Zacks Research raised LENZ Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Piper Sandler cut their target price on LENZ Therapeutics from $12.00 to $7.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings raised LENZ Therapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of LENZ Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $28.80.

LENZ Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of LENZ stock opened at $5.11 on Monday. LENZ Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.53 and a 1 year high of $50.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $160.56 million, a P/E ratio of -1.25 and a beta of 0.65.

LENZ Therapeutics (NASDAQ:LENZ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported ($1.02) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by $0.03. LENZ Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 586.74% and a negative return on equity of 53.39%. The firm had revenue of $5.49 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.38 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that LENZ Therapeutics, Inc. will post -4.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LENZ Therapeutics Profile

LENZ Therapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies to improve vision in the United States. Its product candidates include LNZ100 and LNZ101 which are in Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of presbyopia. The company is headquartered in Del Mar, California.