UBS Group Boosts 89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) Price Target to $38.00

89bio (NASDAQ:ETNB) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at UBS Group from $25.00 to $38.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group’s target price indicates a potential upside of 295.83% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on ETNB. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 price target on shares of 89bio in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of 89bio in a report on Saturday, January 18th. Raymond James raised 89bio to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $29.00 price objective on shares of 89bio in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.43.

89bio Price Performance

ETNB stock traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $9.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,679,331 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,245,288. 89bio has a 12 month low of $5.99 and a 12 month high of $16.63. The company has a quick ratio of 11.66, a current ratio of 11.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.30 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a 50 day moving average of $7.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Charles Mcwherter purchased 5,000 shares of the company’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 $98,250. This represents a 50.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Quoc Le-Nguyen sold 10,963 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.49, for a total value of $71,149.87. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 271,833 shares in the company, valued at $1,764,196.17. The trade was a 3.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 30,000 shares of company stock worth $235,700 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 2.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On 89bio

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of 89bio by 14.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 15,158,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $112,140,000 after acquiring an additional 1,882,108 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of 89bio by 29.6% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,006,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,245,000 after purchasing an additional 686,673 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 89bio by 8.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,074,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,358,000 after purchasing an additional 160,356 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of 89bio during the third quarter worth about $5,631,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 89bio by 8.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 721,050 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,336,000 after acquiring an additional 53,932 shares during the period.

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.