Cytokinetics’ (CYTK) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $72.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 42.04% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on CYTK. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Cytokinetics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $85.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Cytokinetics in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Friday, October 18th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada started coverage on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Friday, November 8th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $80.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Cytokinetics Stock Performance

NASDAQ CYTK traded down $1.17 on Monday, hitting $50.69. 143,664 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,027,893. Cytokinetics has a 1-year low of $32.50 and a 1-year high of $110.25. The company has a current ratio of 9.28, a quick ratio of 9.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $53.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $54.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.98 billion, a PE ratio of -9.42 and a beta of 0.78.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.36) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.27) by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $0.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($1.35) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Cytokinetics will post -5.25 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Fady Ibraham Malik sold 7,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.16, for a total value of $366,168.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 111,878 shares in the company, valued at $5,611,800.48. This represents a 6.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Wendall Wierenga sold 4,452 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $52.25, for a total value of $232,617.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 24,559 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,283,207.75. This trade represents a 15.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 72,378 shares of company stock valued at $3,880,287 in the last quarter. 3.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cytokinetics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CYTK. Darwin Global Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Cytokinetics in the 2nd quarter worth about $246,074,000. Integral Health Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Cytokinetics by 122.2% in the 2nd quarter. Integral Health Asset Management LLC now owns 1,000,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $54,180,000 after acquiring an additional 550,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 42.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,321,391 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $69,769,000 after purchasing an additional 395,709 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its position in Cytokinetics by 38.9% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,212,886 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $64,040,000 after buying an additional 339,373 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checkpoint Capital L.P. raised its position in Cytokinetics by 145.7% during the 3rd quarter. Checkpoint Capital L.P. now owns 466,813 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $24,648,000 after buying an additional 276,813 shares during the last quarter.

About Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics, Incorporated, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing muscle activators and inhibitors as potential treatments for debilitating diseases. The company develops small molecule drug candidates primarily engineered to impact muscle function and contractility.