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

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $72.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 51.04% from the company’s previous close.

CYTK has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Cytokinetics from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $120.00 price objective on shares of Cytokinetics in a research note on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Cytokinetics in a report on Friday, October 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Cytokinetics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $85.00 to $60.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price target on shares of Cytokinetics in a report on Wednesday, September 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Cytokinetics Stock Performance

Cytokinetics stock opened at $47.67 on Wednesday. Cytokinetics has a 52 week low of $30.68 and a 52 week high of $110.25. The company has a current ratio of 9.28, a quick ratio of 9.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.63 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.86 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $53.74 and a 200-day moving average of $54.92.

Cytokinetics (NASDAQ:CYTK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.36) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.27) by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $0.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 million. Cytokinetics’s quarterly revenue was up 22.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.35) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Cytokinetics will post -5.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cytokinetics news, EVP Fady Ibraham Malik sold 7,384 shares of Cytokinetics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.01, for a total transaction of $420,961.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 122,920 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,007,669.20. The trade was a 5.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Robert I. Blum sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.55, for a total transaction of $252,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 397,456 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,091,400.80. This trade represents a 1.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 65,078 shares of company stock worth $3,514,119. Corporate insiders own 3.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cytokinetics

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of Cytokinetics by 12.5% in the third quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 56,885 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,003,000 after acquiring an additional 6,300 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Cytokinetics by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,848,584 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $150,433,000 after purchasing an additional 109,938 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new position in Cytokinetics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $521,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP acquired a new stake in Cytokinetics in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,336,000. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Cytokinetics by 8.5% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 25,067 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,324,000 after buying an additional 1,959 shares during 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.