GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS) Stock Price Down 5.9% – Time to Sell?

GeneDx Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:WGS) dropped 5.9% during trading on Tuesday. The company traded as low as $83.06 and last traded at $80.8290. Approximately 141,509 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 930,850 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.93.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WGS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $70.00) on shares of GeneDx in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of GeneDx from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research raised shares of GeneDx from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 26th. Weiss Ratings upgraded GeneDx from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $63.00 price target (up from $50.00) on shares of GeneDx in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GeneDx has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.57.

GeneDx Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $81.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.38. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a P/E ratio of -19.86 and a beta of 1.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 3.30 and a quick ratio of 3.06.

GeneDx (NASDAQ:WGS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.19) by $0.20. GeneDx had a negative net margin of 23.41% and a positive return on equity of 4.12%. The business had revenue of $114.44 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.01 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that GeneDx Holdings Corp. will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other GeneDx news, CEO Katherine Stueland sold 10,501 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $97.61, for a total transaction of $1,025,002.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 115,476 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,271,612.36. The trade was a 8.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Kevin Feeley sold 3,728 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $97.61, for a total transaction of $363,890.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 44,945 shares in the company, valued at $4,387,081.45. This trade represents a 7.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. In the last quarter, insiders sold 19,206 shares of company stock worth $1,808,056. 25.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of GeneDx

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of GeneDx by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,220,502 shares of the company’s stock valued at $158,738,000 after acquiring an additional 52,322 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of GeneDx by 60.4% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,092,988 shares of the company’s stock worth $142,154,000 after purchasing an additional 411,607 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in GeneDx by 87.1% during the fourth quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,018,261 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,435,000 after buying an additional 474,167 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of GeneDx by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 504,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $65,635,000 after buying an additional 15,170 shares during the period. Finally, First Light Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of GeneDx by 222.7% during the 2nd quarter. First Light Asset Management LLC now owns 783,923 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,816,000 after buying an additional 540,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 61.72% of the company’s stock.

About GeneDx

GeneDx Holdings Corp., doing business as GeneDx, is a healthcare company focused on genetic testing and genomic diagnostics. The company provides testing designed to help healthcare professionals diagnose rare and inherited conditions, guide clinical management, and support research into genetic disease.

Its offerings include whole exome and whole genome sequencing, targeted genetic tests, chromosomal microarray analysis, and other tests used to identify disease-causing genetic variants.