Piper Jaffray Upgrades Sangamo BioSciences to Neutral

Piper Jaffray has upgraded Sangamo BioSciences SGMO from Underweight to Neutral and has raised the price target from $2 to $4. In its report, Piper Jaffray writes, "This morning, Sangamo announced a Zinc Finger Protein (ZFP) therapeutic collaboration with Shire for 7 pre-clinical monogenic disease targets. Sangamo will receive $13 million upfront and R&D reimbursement up to an IND filing, with total milestone per drug reaching $213.5 million plus tiered double-digit royalties. Sangamo ended 3Q:11 with cash of $85 million, and a focus on SB-728T for HIV and on monogenic diseases. With this new deal and a focus on HIV and monogenic diseases, we are upgrading shares to Neutral from Underweight with an increased price target of $4 from $2." Sangamo BioSciences is currently trading $0.77 up from yesterday's $3.45 closing price.