Septerna (NASDAQ:SEPN) Shares Up 10.3% – Time to Buy?

Septerna, Inc. (NASDAQ:SEPN)’s share price was up 10.3% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $36.98 and last traded at $36.9040. 134,133 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 338,672 shares. The stock had previously closed at $33.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SEPN. Wall Street Zen downgraded Septerna from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Septerna in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on shares of Septerna from $47.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Septerna from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 price objective on shares of Septerna in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Septerna has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.89.

Septerna Stock Performance

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $27.83. The company has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a PE ratio of -44.94 and a beta of 2.29.

Septerna (NASDAQ:SEPN) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by $0.23. The business had revenue of $26.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.98 million. Septerna had a negative return on equity of 12.72% and a negative net margin of 49.88%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Septerna, Inc. will post -1.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Septerna

In other news, SVP Daniel D. Long sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.51, for a total value of $532,650.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 96,412 shares in the company, valued at $3,423,590.12. This represents a 13.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, COO Elizabeth Bhatt sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.34, for a total transaction of $97,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 174,209 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,240,247.06. This trade represents a 2.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 48,494 shares of company stock valued at $1,566,751. 5.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Septerna

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SEPN. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Septerna by 86.6% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,715,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $75,698,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260,409 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Septerna in the first quarter valued at approximately $21,334,000. First Light Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Septerna in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,308,000. Primecap Management Co. CA acquired a new stake in shares of Septerna in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,225,000. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Septerna in the second quarter valued at approximately $5,723,000.

Septerna Company Profile

We are a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new era of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) oral small molecule drug discovery powered by our proprietary Native Complex Platform™. Our industrial-scale platform aims to unlock the full potential of GPCR therapies and has led to the discovery and development of our deep pipeline of product candidates focused initially on treating patients in three therapeutic areas: endocrinology, immunology and inflammation, and metabolic diseases. GPCRs are the largest and most diverse family of cell membrane receptors and regulate physiological processes in nearly every organ system of the human body.