Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI)

Absci (NASDAQ:ABSI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $7.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 127.27% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Absci from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Absci in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Absci from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $4.32 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Absci presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $7.08.

Absci Stock Performance

Shares of Absci stock opened at $3.08 on Wednesday. Absci has a 52-week low of $2.01 and a 52-week high of $5.23. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $2.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $3.19. The stock has a market capitalization of $463.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.42 and a beta of 2.12.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Absci news, CEO Sean Mcclain sold 26,761 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.99, for a total transaction of $80,015.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 8,334,567 shares in the company, valued at $24,920,355.33. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andreas Busch purchased 100,000 shares of Absci stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.29 per share, with a total value of $229,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 421,446 shares in the company, valued at approximately $965,111.34. The trade was a 31.11% increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 10.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Absci

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Absci during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Scientech Research LLC bought a new stake in shares of Absci in the third quarter worth about $31,000. HB Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Absci in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Absci in the third quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Xponance LLC bought a new position in shares of Absci during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. 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.