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

Key Points

• On Tuesday, traders purchased 2,549 call options for Cytokinetics, marking a significant increase of 36% over the average volume, indicating heightened investor interest.
• Cytokinetics reported earnings of ($1.12) per share, surpassing analyst expectations, and saw a remarkable revenue increase of 26,727.3% year-over-year.
• Brokerage firm Mizuho reduced its price target for Cytokinetics from $103 to $84, reflecting a cautious outlook despite maintaining an "outperform" rating.

Cytokinetics, Incorporated (NASDAQ:CYTK - Get Free Report) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 2,549 call options on the company. Thisrepresentsanincreaseofapproximately36% compared to the typical volume of 1,876 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on CYTK shares. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Cytokinetics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Cytokinetics from $71.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 9th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Cytokinetics from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Cytokinetics from $103.00 to $84.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Cytokinetics from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, August 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $75.38.

Insider Transactions at Cytokinetics

In other news, EVP Fady Ibraham Malik sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.31, for a total transaction of $76,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 140,610 shares in the company, valued at $5,386,769.10. This trade represents a 1.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert I. Blum sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.45, for a total transaction of $182,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 388,108 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,146,536.60. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 29,756 shares of company stock worth $1,171,560 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 2.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cytokinetics

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CYTK. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Cytokinetics during the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Cytokinetics by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,471,489 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $69,219,000 after acquiring an additional 141,835 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in Cytokinetics by 500.0% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 150,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $7,056,000 after acquiring an additional 125,000 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC lifted its position in Cytokinetics by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 58,680 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $2,760,000 after acquiring an additional 10,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in Cytokinetics by 38.8% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 752,401 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $35,393,000 after acquiring an additional 210,266 shares during the last quarter.

Cytokinetics Price Performance

Shares of Cytokinetics stock traded up $3.26 during trading on Friday, hitting $53.01. 3,722,451 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,537,097. The stock has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.39 and a beta of 0.62. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $37.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.74. Cytokinetics has a 12-month low of $29.31 and a 12-month high of $59.39.

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

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.