Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $5.30, but opened at $5.74. Absci shares last traded at $5.6410, with a volume of 803,134 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on ABSI. Morgan Stanley set a $4.10 price target on Absci in a research note on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price target on Absci from $9.00 to $11.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $7.53.

Absci Trading Down 7.4%

The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.37. The stock has a market cap of $799.79 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.18 and a beta of 2.36.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $0.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 million. Absci had a negative return on equity of 66.32% and a negative net margin of 6,450.76%. Equities analysts forecast that Absci Corporation will post -0.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Absci

In related news, insider Andreas Busch acquired 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average price of $2.29 per share, for a total transaction of $229,000.00. Following the acquisition, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $965,111.34. The trade was a 31.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 10.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Absci

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Absci in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Absci by 91.2% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 5,385 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of Absci by 45.9% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 11,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 3,678 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Absci in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Absci in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 52.05% of the company’s stock.

About Absci

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSI) is a biotechnology company that applies machine learning, synthetic biology and automation to accelerate the discovery and development of protein-based therapeutics. The company’s Integrated Drug Creation® (IDC®) platform is designed to identify and produce novel antibody and enzyme candidates at speeds and scales that traditional biopharma discovery methods cannot match. Absci works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to generate, screen and optimize protein molecules for a wide range of therapeutic applications.

The core of Absci’s offering is its end-to-end discovery engine, which combines proprietary algorithms, high-throughput laboratory automation and a deep learning framework.