Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN) Cut to “Hold” at Wedbush

Wedbush lowered shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Friday morning,Zacks.com reports.

DAWN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 29th. JonesTrading cut shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $21.50 in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC lowered shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. HC Wainwright lowered their price objective on shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, TD Cowen cut shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.56.

Day One Biopharmaceuticals Trading Up 65.9%

Shares of DAWN stock opened at $21.20 on Friday. Day One Biopharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $5.64 and a twelve month high of $21.23. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $11.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.08. The stock has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.58 and a beta of -1.25.

Day One Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:DAWN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 24th. The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $53.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.81 million. Day One Biopharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 23.43% and a negative net margin of 67.85%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Day One Biopharmaceuticals will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Charles N. York II sold 6,065 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.60, for a total value of $70,354.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 312,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,619,490. This trade represents a 1.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Lauren Merendino sold 5,814 shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.60, for a total transaction of $67,442.40. Following the sale, the insider owned 60,157 shares in the company, valued at $697,821.20. This represents a 8.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 36,461 shares of company stock valued at $422,948 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Day One Biopharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of DAWN. AIGH Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Day One Biopharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth $10,719,000. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals by 1,065.6% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 185,006 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,304,000 after acquiring an additional 169,134 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group purchased a new stake in shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $1,171,000. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals by 11.2% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,712,429 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,132,000 after acquiring an additional 171,964 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its stake in shares of Day One Biopharmaceuticals by 71.7% during the second quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 83,223 shares of the company’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 34,766 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.95% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Day One Biopharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Day One Biopharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Acquisition announced — Servier agreed to buy Day One for $21.50 per share in cash (~$2.5 billion), a deal that crystallizes a takeover premium and explains the sharp rally; the transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close in Q2 2026. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst target raised — JonesTrading reiterated a “hold” but increased its price target to $21.50 (from $20.00), putting its target in line with the buyout price and reinforcing the deal valuation. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Options and volume spike — Unusual call-option activity and extremely high trading volume point to takeover-driven speculative buying and arbitrage interest ahead of the deal close (increased open interest and buy-side activity tend to amplify intraday moves).
• Neutral Sentiment: Trading halt — Shares were temporarily halted earlier for “News pending,” a standard market pause when material corporate announcements are imminent; this is procedural and common around M&A.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ratings reaffirmed — Needham and JonesTrading reaffirmed their “hold” ratings (Needham also maintained its view) even as price targets moved; these keep analyst sentiment mixed despite the takeover. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple shareholder investigations and potential litigation — Several law firms (e.g., Brodsky & Smith, Ademi LLP, Halper Sadeh, Monteverde & Associates) announced probes into whether the Board obtained a fair price and followed a proper process; lawsuits or injunctions could delay closing, increase deal costs, or put pressure on the eventual net proceeds to shareholders. Article Title Article Title

About Day One Biopharmaceuticals

Day One Biopharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: DAWN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of targeted therapies for oncology. The company employs a precision medicine approach, leveraging biomarker-driven strategies to identify patient populations most likely to respond to its investigational compounds. By concentrating on well-validated molecular drivers of cancer, Day One seeks to deliver first-in-class or best-in-class therapies with the potential for meaningful clinical benefit.

The company’s pipeline includes several small-molecule candidates in various stages of development.