Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 2,385,686 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 105% from the previous session’s volume of 1,163,214 shares.The stock last traded at $26.19 and had previously closed at $28.48.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BEAM shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Beam Therapeutics from $24.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $57.00 price objective on shares of Beam Therapeutics in a report on Monday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded shares of Beam Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $50.82.

Beam Therapeutics Stock Up 2.8 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a PE ratio of -15.01 and a beta of 1.91. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $27.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.03.

Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($1.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.25) by $0.16. The business had revenue of $30.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.47 million. Beam Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 16.22% and a negative net margin of 41.07%. Beam Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was down 90.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.73 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Beam Therapeutics Inc. will post -4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Beam Therapeutics news, CEO John M. Evans sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.75, for a total transaction of $802,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 908,659 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $24,306,628.25. This trade represents a 3.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Christine Bellon sold 1,241 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $30,627.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 102,968 shares in the company, valued at $2,541,250.24. This trade represents a 1.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 4.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BEAM. Wealthfront Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Beam Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Beam Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Beam Therapeutics by 816.0% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 2,409 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 2,146 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in Beam Therapeutics by 103.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 4,143 shares of the company’s stock worth $103,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Beam Therapeutics by 36.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,274 shares of the company’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.68% of the company’s stock.

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.