Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) Upgraded to "Buy" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Castle Biosciences to “Buy” from “Hold.” The stock has a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average analyst price target of $42.00, compared with a recent price of $35.81.
• Castle Biosciences exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting revenue of $99.86 million versus the $86.23 million consensus estimate and an adjusted loss of $0.07 per share versus an expected loss of $0.41.
• Institutional ownership is high at 92.6%, with BlackRock and other funds building positions; however, insiders sold 196,854 shares worth approximately $6.1 million over the past three months.

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL - Get Free Report) was upgraded by Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CSTL. Roth Capital began coverage on Castle Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded Castle Biosciences from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $36.00 target price on shares of Castle Biosciences in a research note on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp set a $35.00 target price on shares of Castle Biosciences in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, BTIG Research increased their price target on shares of Castle Biosciences from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Castle Biosciences has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $42.00.

Castle Biosciences Stock Performance

Shares of CSTL opened at $35.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -54.26 and a beta of 0.99. Castle Biosciences has a 12 month low of $17.72 and a 12 month high of $44.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.95. The company has a current ratio of 6.04, a quick ratio of 5.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02.

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by $0.34. Castle Biosciences had a negative net margin of 5.43% and a negative return on equity of 4.15%. The firm had revenue of $99.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $86.23 million. Research analysts forecast that Castle Biosciences will post -1.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Tobin Juvenal sold 17,310 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.31, for a total value of $507,356.10. Following the sale, the insider owned 80,725 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,366,049.75. This represents a 17.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Derek J. Maetzold sold 20,356 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.11, for a total value of $633,275.16. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 21,479 shares of the company's stock, valued at $668,211.69. This represents a 48.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 196,854 shares of company stock valued at $6,083,615. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Castle Biosciences

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Castle Biosciences in the second quarter valued at approximately $78,513,000. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Castle Biosciences by 164.7% in the 4th quarter. Summit Partners Public Asset Management LLC now owns 1,058,725 shares of the company's stock valued at $41,184,000 after buying an additional 658,725 shares in the last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Castle Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth $15,440,000. AIGH Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Castle Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth $13,001,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Castle Biosciences by 8.1% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 532,800 shares of the company's stock worth $13,080,000 after buying an additional 39,700 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Castle Biosciences

Castle Biosciences, Inc is a molecular diagnostics company that develops and commercializes tests designed to help physicians make more informed decisions about cancer diagnosis and treatment. Its products use genomic and molecular information to assess disease characteristics, patient risk and likely outcomes.

The company's portfolio includes DecisionDx-Melanoma, which helps assess the risk of metastasis in patients with cutaneous melanoma; DecisionDx-SCC, which evaluates metastatic risk in certain patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma; and MyPath Melanoma, which assists in distinguishing benign from malignant melanocytic lesions.

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