MoonLake Immunotherapeutics' (MLTX) Buy Rating Reiterated at HC Wainwright

Key Points

• HC Wainwright reiterated a Buy rating on MoonLake Immunotherapeutics with a $50 price target, implying substantial upside from the stock’s prior close. Analysts’ consensus target is $28.50, though the overall consensus rating is Hold.
• MLTX shares fell to $11.21 and remain well below their 12-month high of $23.29. MoonLake reported a quarterly loss of $0.84 per share, beating estimates of a $0.91 loss.
• Institutional ownership is high at 93.85%, with several investment firms increasing their positions. Meanwhile, insiders sold approximately $3.95 million of stock over the past three months under pre-arranged trading plans.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reiterated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright's price target would indicate a potential upside of 346.07% from the company's previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on MLTX. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note on Sunday, September 27th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their target price on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MoonLake Immunotherapeutics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $28.50.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Price Performance

Shares of MLTX traded down $0.17 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $11.21. 53,240 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,488,907. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $14.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $17.11. MoonLake Immunotherapeutics has a 12 month low of $8.18 and a 12 month high of $23.29. The company has a current ratio of 12.56, a quick ratio of 12.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. The stock has a market cap of $954.00 million, a PE ratio of -2.92 and a beta of 1.08.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.84) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.91) by $0.07. Equities analysts expect that MoonLake Immunotherapeutics will post -3.34 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Silva Santos sold 68,289 shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.02, for a total transaction of $1,367,145.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,774,893 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $55,553,357.86. This trade represents a 2.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Kristian Reich sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.02, for a total value of $1,001,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 2,714,746 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $54,349,214.92. The trade was a 1.81% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 197,025 shares of company stock valued at $3,947,138. Insiders own 10.40% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MLTX. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 64.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,451,628 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,304,000 after purchasing an additional 1,355,640 shares during the last quarter. Cormorant Asset Management LP lifted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 118.4% during the fourth quarter. Cormorant Asset Management LP now owns 4,355,433 shares of the company's stock valued at $57,405,000 after purchasing an additional 2,361,260 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP lifted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 413.1% during the first quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 1,708,328 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,843,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375,367 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 509.0% during the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 818,126 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,250,000 after purchasing an additional 683,797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 5,255.8% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 724,794 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,510,000 after purchasing an additional 711,261 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.85% of the company's stock.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Company Profile

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines for inflammatory and immunologic diseases. The company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and its ordinary shares trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol MLTX.

MoonLake's primary product candidate is sonelokimab, a novel Nanobody-based inhibitor designed to selectively target interleukin-17A and interleukin-17F, two cytokines involved in inflammation. The company is evaluating sonelokimab in conditions including hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis, with the goal of addressing significant unmet needs in chronic inflammatory disease.

MoonLake was established to advance sonelokimab and related immunology programs and has developed its business around a Nanobody-based drug-development platform.