Stock Repurchase Plan Announced by AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB)

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Monday, March 24th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $75.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the biotechnology company to purchase up to 13.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

AnaptysBio Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of ANAB opened at $18.19 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $17.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $557.83 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.99 and a beta of 0.02. AnaptysBio has a 12-month low of $12.21 and a 12-month high of $41.31.

AnaptysBio (NASDAQ:ANAB) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.72) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.61) by $0.89. The company had revenue of $43.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.17 million. AnaptysBio had a negative return on equity of 287.94% and a negative net margin of 289.75%. Equities research analysts expect that AnaptysBio will post -6.08 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on ANAB shares. BTIG Research downgraded AnaptysBio from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of AnaptysBio from $36.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of AnaptysBio from $40.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of AnaptysBio in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of AnaptysBio in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $35.11.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AnaptysBio news, Director Ecor1 Capital, Llc purchased 6,646 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $12.95 per share, for a total transaction of $86,065.70. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 7,880,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $102,047,217.30. This trade represents a 0.08 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 33.70% of the company’s stock.

About AnaptysBio

AnaptysBio, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, focuses in delivering immunology therapeutics. Its products include Rosnilimab, an IgG1 antibody that targets PD-1+ T cells, resulting in their agonism or depletion, broadly impacting pathogenic drivers of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases; and ANB032, a non-depleting antibody that binds to the BTLA checkpoint receptor and inhibits activated T cell proliferation; ANB033, a novel anti-CD122 antagonist antibody that targets the shared common beta subunit of the receptors for IL-15 and IL-2; ANB101, a BDCA2 modulator antibody that specifically targets plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs); and Imsidolimab, an antibody that inhibits the interleukin-36 receptor, which is in the Phase 3 development for the treatment of generalized pustular psoriasis.