89bio Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ETNB) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 2,228 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 346% compared to the average volume of 499 call options.

89bio Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ ETNB opened at $9.01 on Wednesday. 89bio has a 12 month low of $5.99 and a 12 month high of $16.63. The company has a 50-day moving average of $7.76 and a 200-day moving average of $8.18. The company has a market cap of $956.23 million, a P/E ratio of -3.10 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 11.66 and a quick ratio of 11.66.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 89bio news, Director Charles Mcwherter bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were acquired at an average price of $6.55 per share, with a total value of $32,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $98,250. The trade was a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total transaction of $71,149.87. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,764,196.17. This trade represents a 3.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $235,700 in the last ninety days. 2.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of 89bio

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ETNB. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in 89bio during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $66,000. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio during the fourth quarter valued at about $86,000. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 89bio by 76.2% in the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 20,370 shares of the company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 8,810 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in 89bio during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $160,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of 89bio by 172.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 22,074 shares of the company’s stock valued at $163,000 after buying an additional 13,961 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a report on Saturday, January 18th. Raymond James raised shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of 89bio in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $30.33.

89bio Company Profile

89bio, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of liver and cardio-metabolic diseases. Its lead product candidate is pegozafermin, a glycoPEGylated analog of fibroblast growth factor 21 for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis; and for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia.