Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) Shares Down 7.3% on Insider Selling

Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTL)’s share price traded down 7.3% during trading on Friday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $28.48 and last traded at $28.58. 177,806 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 45% from the average session volume of 325,046 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.83.

Specifically, insider Derek J. Maetzold sold 1,972 shares of Castle Biosciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.15, for a total transaction of $67,343.80. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 87,720 shares in the company, valued at $2,995,638. The trade was a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CSTL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BTIG Research lifted their price objective on shares of Castle Biosciences from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Castle Biosciences from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of Castle Biosciences in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Castle Biosciences from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Castle Biosciences from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Castle Biosciences Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 7.78 and a quick ratio of 7.64. The stock has a market cap of $787.08 million, a PE ratio of 144.46 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $31.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.21.

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.14. The company had revenue of $85.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.55 million. Castle Biosciences had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.47%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Castle Biosciences, Inc. will post -0.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Castle Biosciences

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Castle Biosciences by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,538,520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,879,000 after purchasing an additional 40,377 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Castle Biosciences by 2.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,494,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,096,000 after acquiring an additional 32,695 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG lifted its stake in Castle Biosciences by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,262,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,993,000 after acquiring an additional 44,929 shares during the period. Portolan Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Castle Biosciences by 3.7% in the third quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 1,255,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,811,000 after acquiring an additional 44,676 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Castle Biosciences by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 809,934 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,631,000 after purchasing an additional 60,675 shares during the period. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Castle Biosciences

Castle Biosciences, Inc, a molecular diagnostics company, provides testing solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of dermatologic cancers, Barrett's esophagus, uveal melanoma, and mental health conditions. It offers DecisionDx-Melanoma, a risk stratification gene expression profile (GEP) test to identify the risk of metastasis for patients diagnosed with invasive cutaneous melanoma; DecisionDx-SCC, a proprietary risk stratification GEP test for patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma; MyPath Melanoma, a test used for patients with difficult-to-diagnose melanocytic lesions; and TissueCypher, a spatial omics test to predict future development of high-grade dysplasia and/or esophageal cancer in patients with non-dysplastic, indefinite dysplasia, or low-grade dysplasia Barrett's esophagus.