Needham & Company LLC Reiterates "Buy" Rating for Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK)

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK - Free Report) in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $72.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company's stock.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Cytokinetics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $67.00 price objective on shares of Cytokinetics in a report on Friday, March 7th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Cytokinetics from $47.00 to $41.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on shares of Cytokinetics from $55.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.44.

Cytokinetics Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:CYTK traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $30.96. 857,766 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,677,768. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.70 billion, a PE ratio of -5.76 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50 day moving average is $38.88 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.19. The company has a quick ratio of 9.28, a current ratio of 9.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. Cytokinetics has a one year low of $29.31 and a one year high of $61.40.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.36) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.41) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $1.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.77 million. The business's revenue was up 89.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted ($1.33) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cytokinetics will post -5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Muna Bhanji sold 1,454 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.73, for a total value of $43,227.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 23,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at $698,952.30. This represents a 5.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert I. Blum sold 16,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.44, for a total transaction of $737,176.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 364,181 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $15,820,022.64. This trade represents a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 96,816 shares of company stock worth $3,942,345. Company insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cytokinetics

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Cytokinetics by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,915,821 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $560,520,000 after acquiring an additional 154,216 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Cytokinetics by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,752,123 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $505,780,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062,136 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its stake in Cytokinetics by 10.2% during the first quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 2,590,531 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $104,113,000 after acquiring an additional 240,531 shares in the last quarter. Deep Track Capital LP grew its stake in Cytokinetics by 296.9% during the fourth quarter. Deep Track Capital LP now owns 2,500,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $117,600,000 after acquiring an additional 1,870,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its stake in Cytokinetics by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,153,313 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $101,292,000 after acquiring an additional 279,612 shares in the last quarter.

About Cytokinetics

Cytokinetics, Incorporated, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing muscle activators and inhibitors as potential treatments for debilitating diseases. The company develops small molecule drug candidates primarily engineered to impact muscle function and contractility.