Investors Buy Large Volume of Cytokinetics Call Options (NASDAQ:CYTK)

Key Points

• On Monday, Cytokinetics saw a significant increase in options trading, with 21,076 call options purchased—an increase of approximately 1,008% from the usual volume.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Cytokinetics, with Citigroup setting a new target of $84.00 and Evercore ISI increasing theirs to $80.00, suggesting ongoing positive sentiment towards the company's stock.
• Cytokinetics reported a revenue of $66.77 million for the last quarter, dramatically exceeding expectations, with a year-over-year revenue increase of over 26,000%.

Cytokinetics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 21,076 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,008% compared to the typical volume of 1,902 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup increased their price target on Cytokinetics from $77.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Wall Street Zen raised Cytokinetics from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, August 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Cytokinetics from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Cytokinetics in a research note on Wednesday, July 30th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $75.71.

Cytokinetics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CYTK traded up $2.53 during trading on Monday, hitting $52.93. The company had a trading volume of 431,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,907,526. The stock has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 0.62. Cytokinetics has a one year low of $29.31 and a one year high of $59.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.82 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.13.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.12) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.34) by $0.22. The company had revenue of $66.77 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 million. Cytokinetics's revenue for the quarter was up 26727.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.31) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Cytokinetics will post -5.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Fady Ibraham Malik sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.28, for a total transaction of $98,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 140,610 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,929,260.80. This represents a 1.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Robert I. Blum sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.77, for a total value of $248,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 373,108 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,569,585.16. The trade was a 1.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,756 shares of company stock worth $1,452,550. 3.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cytokinetics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 723.7% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 42.2% during the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 981 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 500.5% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 916 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 281.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,120 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 91.4% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,156 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 552 shares during the last quarter.

Cytokinetics Company Profile

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.

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