Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on ENTA. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $21.00 target price on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird cut their target price on Enanta Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 target price on shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.25.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

ENTA stock traded up $0.69 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $5.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,169,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 524,326. The company has a market capitalization of $119.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.02 and a beta of 0.54. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.61. Enanta Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $4.71 and a fifty-two week high of $17.80.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) last issued its earnings results on Monday, February 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.05) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.16) by $0.11. Enanta Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 73.02% and a negative net margin of 171.57%. As a group, analysts predict that Enanta Pharmaceuticals will post -5.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Enanta Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Jay R. Luly sold 5,142 shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.06, for a total value of $41,444.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 801,638 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,461,202.28. This trade represents a 0.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ENTA. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 4,933.7% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 4,329 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 4,243 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $58,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $122,000. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Enanta Pharmaceuticals by 16.4% in the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 22,260 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $128,000 after buying an additional 3,137 shares in the last quarter. 94.99% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Enanta Pharmaceuticals

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers and develops small molecule drugs for the treatment of viral infections and liver diseases. Its product pipeline comprises EDP-514, which is in phase 1b clinical development for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus or HBV; EDP-938 and EDP-323, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of respiratory syncytial virus; EDP-235, which is in phase II clinical development for the treatment of human coronaviruses; and Glecaprevir, which is in the market for the treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus or HCV.