Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Absci Corporation (NASDAQ:ABSI) gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $5.75, but opened at $5.04. Absci shares last traded at $5.6010, with a volume of 1,996,412 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on ABSI. Morgan Stanley downgraded Absci from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.32 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Absci in a report on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a report on Monday, April 20th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.44.

Absci Stock Down 0.6%

The company has a market cap of $888.40 million, a P/E ratio of -6.71 and a beta of 2.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $3.29 and a 200-day moving average of $3.31.

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.20) by $0.01. Absci had a negative return on equity of 62.33% and a negative net margin of 4,113.68%.The company had revenue of $0.22 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.39 million. On average, research analysts predict that Absci Corporation will post -0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Absci news, insider Andreas Busch acquired 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at $965,111.34. The trade was a 31.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Absci

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ABSI. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Absci by 190.1% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,990,877 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,908,000 after acquiring an additional 3,925,926 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Absci during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $8,201,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP purchased a new position in Absci during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,450,000. ARK Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Absci by 21.1% during the third quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 12,162,773 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,975,000 after buying an additional 2,116,845 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Absci by 2,955.4% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,156,067 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,526,000 after buying an additional 2,085,501 shares during the period. 52.05% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.