After Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) reported its latest earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd, the biopharmaceutical company saw a drop in its price objective by analysts at SVB Securities. Their new price objective of $34.00 suggests a potential upside of 30.62% from the company’s previous close.
Agios Pharmaceuticals focuses on discovering and developing investigational medicines to treat cancer and rare genetic diseases that are caused by changes in genes or chromosomes. The company’s latest earnings report showed that it had a negative net margin of 1,627.82% and a negative return on equity of 20.68%, which might have contributed to their lowered price target.
Despite this, Agios Pharmaceuticals’ earnings per share for the quarter were $0.67, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.59) by $2.26. However, revenue for this quarter was lower than expected with only $4.31 million instead of the anticipated $4.42 million.
Equities analysts expect that Agios Pharmaceuticals will post a relatively high -6.77 EPS for this fiscal year which ends on December 31st, 2023.
While SVB Securities has dropped its price target for Agios Pharmaceuticals, investors should consider that the company remains committed to advancing novel therapies for life-threatening diseases through clinical trials and other research programs in an effort to bring hope to patients in need of effective treatments.
Looking ahead, investors should keep an eye out for any further developments related to clinical trials as well as partnerships and collaborations that may arise with other biopharmaceutical companies seeking advancements in cancer treatment and rare disease medicine development.
Although there are certainly risks associated with investing in any biotech company, Agios Pharmaceuticals is one worth watching closely given its commitment not just to developing cures but also those designed specifically for patients suffering from genetic diseases for whom there are currently limited options out there.
Agios Pharmaceuticals: Investigational Medicines for Cancer and Rare Genetic Diseases
Agios Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of investigational medicines for cancer and rare genetic diseases. The firm’s primary aim is to develop drugs that target diseases caused by changes in genes or chromosomes, which are typically inherited from previous generations. The company’s shares have been trading at $26.03 per share as of May 7th, with a market capitalization of 1.45 billion dollars.
Recently, several equities research analysts have issued recommendations concerning Agios Pharmaceuticals’ stock. Piper Jaffray Companies and Piper Sandler both initiated coverage on the shares and assigned an “overweight” rating along with a $41 price objective for the firm. In contrast, StockNews.com downgraded the company’s stock from “hold” to “sell.” One equities research analyst gave the stock a sell rating, one rated it as hold, while three recommended the shares as a buy.
Despite these mixed ratings, data from Bloomberg.com reveals that Agios Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Hold” along with an average target price of $37.00.
The Director of Agios Pharmaceuticals, David P. Schenkein, recently sold off over 16 thousand shares in April at an average price of $22.85, amounting to over 373 thousand dollars’ worth of shares. This move followed two other transactions where Schenkein sold thousands more shares earlier in March for similar prices.
Institutional investors have also been active in their purchases and sales of AGIO stock in recent months. Envestnet Asset Management Inc., MetLife Investment Management LLC, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP, Allianz Asset Management GmbH, and Vanguard Group Inc are among those who have recently made changes to their positions in AGIO.
Overall, despite some mixed assessments regarding its stocks’ value and growth potential along with insider selling activity by its Director – David P. Schenkein, Agios Pharmaceuticals remains committed to discovering and developing novel medicines that will treat cancer and rare genetic diseases caused by genetic mutations or chromosome changes.
