Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) Trading Up 5.7% – Still a Buy?

Arbutus Biopharma Co. (NASDAQ:ABUS)’s stock price was up 5.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $4.08 and last traded at $4.08. Approximately 408,863 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 64% from the average daily volume of 1,126,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.86.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on ABUS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma from $5.00 to $7.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Arbutus Biopharma from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 10th. Finally, JMP Securities increased their price objective on shares of Arbutus Biopharma from $4.00 to $5.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.25.

Arbutus Biopharma Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $775.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.34 and a beta of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $3.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $3.44.

Arbutus Biopharma (NASDAQ:ABUS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.73 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.54 million. Arbutus Biopharma had a negative return on equity of 66.68% and a negative net margin of 766.20%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.10) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Arbutus Biopharma Co. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ABUS. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Arbutus Biopharma during the 2nd quarter valued at $34,000. Walleye Trading LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arbutus Biopharma in the first quarter valued at $36,000. Helen Stephens Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Arbutus Biopharma in the third quarter valued at $50,000. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in shares of Arbutus Biopharma in the second quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Arbutus Biopharma by 66.1% during the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 32,233 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 12,833 shares in the last quarter. 43.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Arbutus Biopharma Company Profile

Arbutus Biopharma Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for chronic Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the United States. Its HBV product pipeline consists of imdusiran (AB-729), a proprietary subcutaneously-delivered RNAi therapeutic product candidate that suppresses all HBV antigens, including HBsAg expression.