Crispr Therapeutics Stock Pops on Vertex Stake

Vertex Pharmaceuticals revealed it has taken a stake in CRSP

Crispr Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:CRSP) is trading up 9.9% at $24.98 today, after it was revealed Friday evening that cystic fibrosis specialist Vertex Pharmaceuticals (VRTX) took a 10.1% stake in the gene editing company. On Friday, CRSP stock touched a nearly 52-week low of $22.22, as it's struggled mightily in the second half of the year.

To be more specific, the shares traded as high as $73.88 in late May, but since then have been stuck in a relentless downtrend. In just the past three months, Crispr Therapeutics has shed 45%, and not surprisingly ended up in oversold territory, like many stocks across the market, according to its 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 22.

Still, analysts have mostly remained bullish. Of the 11 brokerage firms in coverage, seven say to buy CRSP. Even more notable, the average 12-month price target from the brokerage bunch stands all the way up at $66.17.

As for options traders, near-term open interest remains heavily call-skewed, according to the Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.56, which ranks in the 9th annual percentile. On the other hand, put buying has picked up at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), with the 10-day put/call volume ratio of 0.81 arriving in the 80th annual percentile. Said differently, there's been a greater-than-usual interest in put buying relative to call buying in recent weeks.