Masaru Matsuda Sells 3,325 Shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) Stock

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) insider Masaru Matsuda sold 3,325 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.95, for a total value of $92,933.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 143,678 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,015,800.10. The trade was a 2.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Masaru Matsuda also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, March 2nd, Masaru Matsuda sold 8,733 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total value of $220,944.90.
• On Monday, February 2nd, Masaru Matsuda sold 40,638 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.28, for a total value of $1,027,328.64.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ ARQT traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.60. The company had a trading volume of 1,889,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,373,037. The company has a quick ratio of 2.99, a current ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of -168.56 and a beta of 1.66. Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.86 and a fifty-two week high of $31.77. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.03.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.10. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 4.29% and a negative return on equity of 10.26%. The business had revenue of $129.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $110.79 million. Equities analysts predict that Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.33 EPS for the current year.

Key Stories Impacting Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Arcutis Biotherapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Arcutis announced first participant enrollment in a Phase 1a/1b study of ARQ-234 (a CD200R agonist) to evaluate safety/tolerability in healthy volunteers and adults with moderate–severe atopic dermatitis — a clear pipeline positive that supports long-term growth potential. ARQ-234 trial enrollment
• Neutral Sentiment: Broker action: Mizuho lowered its price target from $37 to $35 but kept an “Outperform” rating — a modest near-term negative signal (slightly lower PT) but still positive conviction from the analyst. Mizuho note
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund reporting: Baron Health Care Fund published Q4 2025 activity (fund filings sometimes move small- and mid-cap biotechs), but the feed doesn’t specify a material position change in ARQT. Baron fund activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data in the feed is inconsistent/erroneous (reports show 0 shares / NaN changes), so it provides no actionable signal to explain today’s move. Investors should treat those figures as unreliable until clarified by exchange data.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: multiple company insiders sold shares on Feb 27–Mar 2 (including Todd Watanabe, Masaru Matsuda, Patrick Burnett, CFO Latha Vairavan and others). The aggregated sales total ~62,000 shares across named insiders (largest single sale ~37,349 shares by Watanabe). Insider sales can be interpreted as near-term negative sentiment or simple liquidity diversification — but the market often reacts negatively to clustered insider dispositions. Representative SEC filings: Todd Watanabe sale Watanabe Form 4, Masaru Matsuda filings Matsuda Form 4

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 10.3% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 12,254,119 shares of the company’s stock worth $230,990,000 after buying an additional 1,144,714 shares during the period. Suvretta Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 11,964,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,486,000 shares in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. boosted its stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 9,874,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089,227 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,253,936 shares of the company’s stock worth $210,654,000 after purchasing an additional 107,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Polar Capital Holdings Plc raised its stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Polar Capital Holdings Plc now owns 5,556,169 shares of the company’s stock valued at $161,351,000 after purchasing an additional 257,415 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARQT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research cut Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 29th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $31.86.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Arcutis Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for immuno-inflammatory skin diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on targeted treatments that address the underlying biology of conditions such as plaque psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis and vitiligo. Arcutis employs a precision-medicine approach to deliver topical therapies designed to improve efficacy and tolerability compared with existing treatment options.

In August 2022, Arcutis received U.S.