Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) Upgraded to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Friday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $32.00 price objective on Crescent Biopharma in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e-)” rating on shares of Crescent Biopharma in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Guggenheim began coverage on shares of Crescent Biopharma in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $27.83.

Crescent Biopharma Price Performance

Shares of CBIO traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $12.80. 144,078 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 118,238. Crescent Biopharma has a fifty-two week low of $9.81 and a fifty-two week high of $37.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.85 and a 200-day moving average of $12.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.79 million, a P/E ratio of -0.60 and a beta of 1.35.

Crescent Biopharma (NASDAQ:CBIO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.27) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.01) by ($0.26). As a group, analysts forecast that Crescent Biopharma will post -0.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Fairmount Funds Management Llc acquired 1,360,000 shares of Crescent Biopharma stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 4th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $13.41 per share, with a total value of $18,237,600.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 2,747,866 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $36,848,883.06. The trade was a 97.99% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 4.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Crescent Biopharma

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Citadel Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma in the 3rd quarter worth $304,000. Two Sigma Investments LP purchased a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $337,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma by 279.1% in the 3rd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 102,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,221,000 after buying an additional 75,618 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Crescent Biopharma in the third quarter valued at approximately $7,822,000. Finally, Soleus Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Crescent Biopharma during the second quarter valued at approximately $6,456,000. 75.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Crescent Biopharma

Crescent Biopharma, Inc (NASDAQ: CBIO) is a clinical‐stage immuno‐oncology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies for patients with solid tumors. The company’s research strategy centers on combination approaches that enhance anti‐tumor immune responses by simultaneously targeting multiple pathways implicated in immune evasion and tumor growth.

The company’s lead candidate, CPB-201, is a bifunctional fusion protein designed to block programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) while neutralizing transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β), with the goal of restoring T-cell activity and reducing tumor fibrosis.