Arbutus Biopharma (ABUS) Upgraded at Zacks Investment Research

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) was upgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday. The firm presently has a $10.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Zacks Investment Research‘s price target points to a potential upside of 14.03% from the company’s current price.

According to Zacks, “Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company which is focused on discovering, developing and commercializing a portfolio of drug candidates for chronic hepatitis B infection. The Company’s products include TKM-HBV, Cyclophilin Inhibitor-OCB-030, TLR9 Agonist (CYT-003), Capsid Assembly Inhibitors, Surface Antigen Secretion Inhibitors, STING Agonists, cccDNA Formation Inhibitors, cccDNA Epigenetic Modifiers, TKM-PLK1, GI-NET and ACC, HCC, TKM-Ebola, TKM-Ebola-Guinea, TKM-Marburg, TKM-HTG and TKM-ALDH which are in different clinical trial stage. Arbutus Biopharma Corp, formerly known as Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation, is headquartered in Vancouver, BC. “

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A number of other research firms have also weighed in on ABUS. B. Riley lowered shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $9.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Friday. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 21st. Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma in a research report on Monday, May 7th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 2nd. Finally, Wedbush lowered shares of Arbutus Biopharma from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $9.00 to $6.00 in a research report on Monday, March 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.50.

Arbutus Biopharma traded down $0.43, reaching $8.77, during midday trading on Monday, Marketbeat reports. The stock had a trading volume of 22,127 shares, compared to its average volume of 579,784. Arbutus Biopharma has a 12-month low of $3.20 and a 12-month high of $9.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 16.86 and a quick ratio of 16.86. The firm has a market cap of $507.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.90 and a beta of 0.98.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 3rd. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.36) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by $0.03. Arbutus Biopharma had a negative net margin of 705.09% and a negative return on equity of 61.50%. The firm had revenue of $1.40 million for the quarter. analysts expect that Arbutus Biopharma will post -1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other Arbutus Biopharma news, insider Michael J. Sofia sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.20, for a total transaction of $164,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,543,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,655,904.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael J. Sofia sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.00, for a total transaction of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 1,543,403 shares in the company, valued at $12,347,224. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 7.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Foresite Capital Management IV LLC boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 886.3% during the 1st quarter. Foresite Capital Management IV LLC now owns 1,485,245 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $7,426,000 after purchasing an additional 1,334,653 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 7,615.3% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 751,314 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,794,000 after purchasing an additional 741,576 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 150.7% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 402,573 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,033,000 after buying an additional 241,963 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 222,329 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,112,000 after buying an additional 44,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 167,150 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $836,000 after buying an additional 16,430 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.30% of the company’s stock.

About Arbutus Biopharma

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of a cure for patients suffering from chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in Canada and the United States. It also develops a pipeline of products based on RNA interference therapeutics (RNAi).

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