Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) Stock Price Crosses Above 50 Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Abeona Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ABEO) passed above its fifty day moving average during trading on Wednesday . The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.57 and traded as high as $5.84. Abeona Therapeutics shares last traded at $5.62, with a volume of 1,068,864 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on ABEO. Stifel Nicolaus set a $17.00 price target on Abeona Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Abeona Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, March 9th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price objective on shares of Abeona Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, May 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Abeona Therapeutics from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Abeona Therapeutics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $19.00.

Abeona Therapeutics Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $5.57 and its 200 day moving average is $5.23. The firm has a market cap of $320.28 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.79 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 5.70, a current ratio of 5.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Abeona Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ABEO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.30) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.33) by $0.03. The business had revenue of $8.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.57 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that Abeona Therapeutics Inc. will post -0.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Vishwas Seshadri sold 31,916 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.30, for a total transaction of $169,154.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,374,079 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,282,618.70. This represents a 2.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Eric Crombez sold 26,143 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.53, for a total value of $144,570.79. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 37,313 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $206,340.89. This trade represents a 41.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 182,784 shares of company stock worth $994,940 over the last three months. Company insiders own 7.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AIGH Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 55.0% in the 1st quarter. AIGH Capital Management LLC now owns 3,100,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $13,888,000 after buying an additional 1,100,000 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Abeona Therapeutics by 14.2% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 3,072,985 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,455,000 after buying an additional 381,357 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Abeona Therapeutics by 3.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,602,901 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,743,000 after buying an additional 95,878 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Abeona Therapeutics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,137,127 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,994,000 after buying an additional 9,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its position in Abeona Therapeutics by 56.4% during the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,050,863 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,549,000 after acquiring an additional 378,860 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

About Abeona Therapeutics

Abeona Therapeutics is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of gene and cell therapies for severe, life‐threatening rare diseases and oncology indications. Founded in 2014 and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Abeona leverages proprietary viral and non‐viral delivery platforms to correct or compensate for underlying genetic deficiencies. The company’s research efforts target pediatric neurodegenerative disorders as well as debilitating dermatologic conditions with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead clinical programs include separate AAV‐based gene therapies for CLN1 and CLN3 forms of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, alongside an ex vivo autologous cell therapy for recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.