Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $34.00.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on ARQT shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $36.00 price objective on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of ARQT opened at $25.84 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.11 and a 200-day moving average of $24.89. Arcutis Biotherapeutics has a one year low of $13.06 and a one year high of $31.77. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of -861.05 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.41%. The firm had revenue of $105.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.67 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Arcutis Biotherapeutics will post 0.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Latha Vairavan sold 1,341 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total value of $31,661.01. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,413 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,040,210.93. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Howard G. Welgus sold 7,144 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.99, for a total transaction of $164,240.56. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 32,600 shares in the company, valued at approximately $749,474. This represents a 17.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 30,931 shares of company stock worth $730,086. Corporate insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arcutis Biotherapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ARQT. Zevenbergen Capital Investments LLC bought a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $12,140,000. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 10.0% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 3,243,432 shares of the company’s stock worth $94,189,000 after purchasing an additional 294,994 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB bought a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $5,850,000. Ally Bridge Group NY LLC bought a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,396,000. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,319,000.

About Arcutis Biotherapeutics

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.