Wall Street Zen Upgrades Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK) to "Hold"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Cytokinetics from “sell” to “hold,” while the broader analyst consensus remains “Moderate Buy” with a $106.06 target price.
• Cytokinetics reported a quarterly loss of $1.50 per share, beating estimates, and revenue of $28.62 million, above forecasts but down 57.1% year over year.
• The stock opened at $62.91, below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, while insiders have sold approximately $13.1 million worth of shares over the past three months.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, Wall Street Zen reports.

CYTK has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Cytokinetics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on Cytokinetics from $105.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Cytokinetics from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Cytokinetics from $97.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Cytokinetics in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $106.06.

Cytokinetics Stock Performance

NASDAQ CYTK opened at $62.91 on Monday. Cytokinetics has a twelve month low of $54.30 and a twelve month high of $88.31. The stock has a market cap of $7.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.71 and a beta of 0.41. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $71.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $73.26.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.50) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.63) by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $28.62 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.59 million. Cytokinetics's revenue for the quarter was down 57.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($1.12) earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Cytokinetics will post -5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cytokinetics

In other Cytokinetics news, Director B. Parshall sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.48, for a total value of $357,400.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,784 shares in the company, valued at $770,840.32. The trade was a 31.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Robert Blum sold 7,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.46, for a total value of $490,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 278,544 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,233,490.24. The trade was a 2.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 183,926 shares of company stock valued at $13,130,285 in the last three months. 2.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cytokinetics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Cytokinetics by 8.6% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $178,000 after buying an additional 213 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its stake in Cytokinetics by 2.4% in the first quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 12,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $830,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Cytokinetics by 5.7% in the first quarter. AlphaCentric Advisors LLC now owns 5,616 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $370,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC lifted its stake in Cytokinetics by 10.5% in the first quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 4,050 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Cytokinetics in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000.

About Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics, Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing medicines that improve muscle function. The company applies muscle biology and molecular pharmacology to develop therapies for cardiovascular and neuromuscular diseases in which impaired muscle performance contributes to disease progression or disability.

Its lead programs include aficamten, a next-generation cardiac myosin inhibitor being developed for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and other investigational compounds designed to modulate the activity of cardiac or skeletal muscle.

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