Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 64,504 Shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX)

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) by 488.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 77,709 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 64,504 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals worth $3,971,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 264.1% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,978,172 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,526,000 after buying an additional 1,434,909 shares in the last quarter. Artal Group S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $65,088,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its position in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 17.0% during the second quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 6,112,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $273,764,000 after acquiring an additional 885,876 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 27.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,823,218 shares of the company’s stock worth $178,966,000 after acquiring an additional 814,360 shares during the period. Finally, Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 9,840.0% in the second quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 497,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,261,000 after buying an additional 492,000 shares in the last quarter. 98.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CRNX. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, September 16th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $73.00 price objective (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 9th. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $69.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, September 27th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $70.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.18.

Insider Activity at Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CFO Marc Wilson sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.11, for a total transaction of $1,277,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 111,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,677,912.12. This trade represents a 18.37 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Stephen F. Betz sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.19, for a total value of $159,570.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 69,611 shares in the company, valued at $3,702,609.09. The trade was a 4.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 43,410 shares of company stock worth $2,275,929 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CRNX opened at $57.10 on Friday. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $29.72 and a 1 year high of $62.53. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.50. The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a PE ratio of -15.31 and a beta of 0.62.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.96) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.05). During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($1.01) EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. The company's lead product candidate is paltusotine, an oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, which is in Phase 3 trial for the treatment of acromegaly; and Phase 2 trial for treating carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors.