Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) Shares Up 7.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT)’s share price shot up 7.1% during trading on Tuesday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $16.00 to $19.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Arcutis Biotherapeutics traded as high as $15.25 and last traded at $15.40. 1,221,408 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the average session volume of 2,200,479 shares. The stock had previously closed at $14.38.

ARQT has been the subject of several other reports. Mizuho upped their target price on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Monday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arcutis Biotherapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Howard G. Welgus sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.00, for a total value of $130,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 131,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,715,272. This trade represents a 7.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Todd Franklin Watanabe sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.17, for a total value of $227,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 823,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,491,433.10. This represents a 1.79 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 57,848 shares of company stock worth $797,648. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ARQT. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $46,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $104,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 9.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $119,000 after buying an additional 1,155 shares during the last quarter.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Trading Up 7.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.72. The company has a market cap of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.65 and a beta of 1.48.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.09) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.19. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 119.11% and a negative net margin of 140.97%. The company had revenue of $71.36 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.52 million. Analysts anticipate that Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for dermatological diseases. Its lead product candidate is ARQ-151, a topical roflumilast cream that has completed Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of plaque psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.