Avid Bioservices (NASDAQ:CDMO) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Avid Bioservices, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDMO)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $12.50 and last traded at $12.49, with a volume of 207210 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $12.46.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on CDMO. Stephens lowered shares of Avid Bioservices from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $12.50 price target (up previously from $12.00) on shares of Avid Bioservices in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Craig Hallum lowered shares of Avid Bioservices from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, William Blair reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Avid Bioservices in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $12.25.

Avid Bioservices Stock Up 0.2 %

The company has a market capitalization of $798.54 million, a P/E ratio of -5.22 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $12.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.22.

Avid Bioservices (NASDAQ:CDMO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, December 10th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.14). Avid Bioservices had a negative net margin of 101.07% and a negative return on equity of 33.18%. Equities research analysts forecast that Avid Bioservices, Inc. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avid Bioservices

In other Avid Bioservices news, CFO Daniel R. Hart sold 22,813 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.22, for a total value of $278,774.86. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 110,980 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,356,175.60. This represents a 17.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Richard A. Richieri sold 2,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.37, for a total value of $28,240.71. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,535 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $612,747.95. This represents a 4.41 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 349,850 shares of company stock valued at $4,288,259 in the last quarter. 3.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Avid Bioservices

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Avid Bioservices by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 94,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,170,000 after buying an additional 3,121 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA bought a new stake in Avid Bioservices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,596,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in Avid Bioservices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $195,000. Jennison Associates LLC bought a new stake in Avid Bioservices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $13,796,000. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Avid Bioservices in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,320,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 97.16% of the company’s stock.

About Avid Bioservices

Avid Bioservices, Inc operates as a contract development and manufacturing organization for the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries in the United States. It provides process development and current good manufacturing practice clinical and commercial manufacturing services of biologics, including clinical and commercial drug substance manufacturing, bulk packaging, release and stability testing, regulatory submission and support, upstream and downstream development and optimization, analytical methods development, cell line development, testing, and characterization services.