Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shares of Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $35.32, but opened at $36.62. Beam Therapeutics shares last traded at $35.6820, with a volume of 989,486 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on BEAM shares. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price target on Beam Therapeutics from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 20th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Tudor Pickering set a $39.00 target price on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.83.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $31.17 and a 200 day moving average of $28.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 16.99 and a quick ratio of 16.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.59 and a beta of 2.18.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.03) by $0.12. The company had revenue of $31.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.98 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 39.66% and a negative return on equity of 29.00%. The company’s revenue was up 323.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.23) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.16 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Beam Therapeutics news, insider Fmr Llc sold 251,488 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.26, for a total value of $8,867,466.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 854,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,132,596.58. This trade represents a 22.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 26.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 538,290 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,827,000 after purchasing an additional 110,962 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 136.1% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 93,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,222,000 after buying an additional 53,752 shares during the last quarter. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Beam Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth about $34,467,000. California State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 23.5% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 107,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,567,000 after acquiring an additional 20,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,144 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.68% of the company’s stock.

Beam Therapeutics Company Profile

Beam Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ: BEAM) is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing precision genetic medicines through its pioneering base editing platform. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional research facilities in Philadelphia, the company focuses on engineering molecular editors capable of making precise single-nucleotide changes in DNA. By harnessing its proprietary base editing technology, Beam aims to correct or disrupt disease-causing genetic variants at their source, offering the potential for novel therapies in areas with significant unmet medical need.

Founded in 2017 as a spin-out from Harvard University and the Broad and Whitehead Institutes, Beam was co-founded by leading academic researcher David R.