Morphic’s (MORF) Sector Perform Rating Reiterated at Royal Bank of Canada

Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reissued by investment analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $57.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential upside of 0.65% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on MORF. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Morphic from $30.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morphic in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective (up from $52.00) on shares of Morphic in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morphic presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.25.

Morphic Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MORF traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $56.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 508,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,201,383. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.84 billion, a PE ratio of -16.17 and a beta of 1.50. Morphic has a twelve month low of $19.34 and a twelve month high of $62.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $37.42 and a 200 day moving average of $34.05.

Morphic (NASDAQ:MORF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported ($0.91) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.96) by $0.05. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morphic will post -4.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Morphic

In other news, CFO Marc Schegerin sold 43,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total value of $2,451,628.80. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 37,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,115,210.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, General Counsel William Devaul sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.79, for a total transaction of $557,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 23,029 shares in the company, valued at $1,284,787.91. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marc Schegerin sold 43,936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.80, for a total transaction of $2,451,628.80. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 37,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,115,210.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 125,790 shares of company stock valued at $7,018,566. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morphic

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Morphic by 83.3% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,591,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,086,617 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Morphic by 13.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,523,586 shares of the company’s stock valued at $88,831,000 after acquiring an additional 300,958 shares during the last quarter. Artal Group S.A. increased its position in shares of Morphic by 3.5% during the first quarter. Artal Group S.A. now owns 2,213,188 shares of the company’s stock valued at $77,904,000 after acquiring an additional 75,000 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morphic by 10.5% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,107,410 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,281,000 after acquiring an additional 200,772 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Morphic by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,880,000 after acquiring an additional 115,975 shares during the last quarter. 94.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morphic Company Profile

Morphic Holding, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops oral small-molecule integrin therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune, cardiovascular, and metabolic diseases, as well as fibrosis and cancer. Its lead product candidate MORF-057, an a4ß7-specific integrin inhibitor affecting inflammation is in Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.