Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Stock Price Down 6.3% – Here’s What Happened

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) shares were down 6.3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $28.02 and last traded at $28.31. Approximately 232,725 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 1,220,431 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.20.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEAM has been the topic of several recent research reports. Leerink Partners upgraded Beam Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $27.00 to $39.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on Beam Therapeutics from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Scotiabank started coverage on Beam Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $24.00 price target for the company. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics from $66.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.40.

Beam Therapeutics Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $24.99 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.21. The company has a market cap of $2.42 billion, a P/E ratio of -15.82 and a beta of 1.90.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The company reported ($1.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $14.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.52 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 41.07% and a negative return on equity of 16.22%. Beam Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was down 16.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($1.22) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO John M. Evans sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.60, for a total transaction of $1,476,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 938,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,091,011.40. The trade was a 6.01 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, President Giuseppe Ciaramella sold 51,110 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.27, for a total value of $1,342,659.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 160,260 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,210,030.20. This represents a 24.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 162,894 shares of company stock valued at $4,181,745. Insiders own 4.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Beam Therapeutics by 212.6% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 19,142 shares of the company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 13,018 shares during the period. SteelPeak Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 137.1% in the second quarter. SteelPeak Wealth LLC now owns 17,795 shares of the company’s stock worth $417,000 after acquiring an additional 10,290 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 2,648.4% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,704 shares of the company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC raised its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 52.8% during the 2nd quarter. Krilogy Financial LLC now owns 51,336 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,734 shares during the period. Finally, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP purchased a new position in Beam Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,874,000. 99.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Beam Therapeutics

Beam Therapeutics Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in the development of precision genetic medicines for patients suffering from serious diseases in the United States. It develops BEAM-101 for the treatment of sickle cell disease or beta-thalassemia; and BEAM-302, a liver-targeting LNP formulation to treat severe alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency; BEAM-201, an anti-CD7 CAR-T product candidate, which is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials for the treatment of refractory T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma; and BEAM-301, a liver-targeting LNP formulation for the treatment of glycogen storage disease 1a.