Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) Hits New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (NASDAQ:CNTA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $15.00 to $20.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Centessa Pharmaceuticals traded as high as $15.06 and last traded at $14.99, with a volume of 115397 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $14.30.

CNTA has been the topic of several other reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $14.00 price objective on shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Centessa Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $11.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Gregory M. Weinhoff sold 12,198 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.17, for a total value of $148,449.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 241,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,935,051.07. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, insider Gregory M. Weinhoff sold 12,198 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.17, for a total transaction of $148,449.66. Following the sale, the insider now owns 241,171 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,935,051.07. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Saurabh Saha sold 4,169 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.32, for a total value of $51,362.08. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 827,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,197,941.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 16,873 shares of company stock worth $206,000. 11.59% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Centessa Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 34.1% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,115,817 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,882,000 after purchasing an additional 283,469 shares during the last quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. now owns 381,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,033,000 after buying an additional 43,539 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 16.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,958,079 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,427,000 after buying an additional 418,615 shares during the period. Octagon Capital Advisors LP grew its stake in Centessa Pharmaceuticals by 333.2% in the 4th quarter. Octagon Capital Advisors LP now owns 2,060,100 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,398,000 after buying an additional 1,584,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Centessa Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at about $330,000. 82.01% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.07 and a beta of 1.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $11.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 13.29 and a quick ratio of 13.29.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CNTA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 13th. The company reported ($0.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.38) by ($0.02). Research analysts forecast that Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc will post -1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Centessa Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops, and delivers medicines to patients. Its pipeline products include SerpinPC, an activated protein C inhibitor, which is in Phase IIa clinical development for the treatment of hemophilia A and B; and ORX750, an orally administered OX2R agonist for the treatment of NT1 with potential expansion into other sleep disorders.