Weiss Ratings Reaffirms “Sell (D-)” Rating for 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB)‘s stock had its “sell (d-)” rating reaffirmed by research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Saturday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of 89bio from $25.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.43.

89bio Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of ETNB stock opened at $9.29 on Friday. 89bio has a 12 month low of $5.99 and a 12 month high of $16.63. The stock has a market cap of $985.91 million, a P/E ratio of -3.19 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a current ratio of 11.66, a quick ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.19.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Ra Capital Management, L.P. bought 5,714,285 shares of 89bio stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $8.75 per share, with a total value of $49,999,993.75. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 19,554,319 shares in the company, valued at $171,100,291.25. The trade was a 41.29 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was 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 represents a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 5,744,285 shares of company stock worth $50,235,694. 2.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ETNB. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in 89bio by 14.2% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,158,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,140,000 after buying an additional 1,882,108 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in 89bio during the 3rd quarter worth about $5,631,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in 89bio by 29.6% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,006,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,245,000 after acquiring an additional 686,673 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Capital LLC grew its holdings in 89bio by 1,232.2% during the 3rd quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 435,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,221,000 after acquiring an additional 402,624 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exome Asset Management LLC bought a new position in 89bio during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,224,000.

About 89bio

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.