MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) Stock Sees Unusually High Call Option Buying

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 4,294 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 274% compared to the average volume of 1,147 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MLTX. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 24.1% in the 3rd quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 223,883 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,619,000 after buying an additional 43,435 shares during the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,173,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $39,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 156.2% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 1,045 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $233,000. 93.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MLTX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 target price on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Leerink Partners increased their target price on MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $28.50.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Stock Up 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:MLTX traded up $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.58. 321,492 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,509,216. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.59. The firm has a market cap of $900.72 million, a PE ratio of -2.75 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 12.56, a current ratio of 12.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. MoonLake Immunotherapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.90 and a fifty-two week high of $23.29.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.84) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by $0.07. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MoonLake Immunotherapeutics will post -3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Company Profile

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines for inflammatory and immunologic diseases. The company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and its ordinary shares trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol MLTX.

MoonLake’s primary product candidate is sonelokimab, a novel Nanobody-based inhibitor designed to selectively target interleukin-17A and interleukin-17F, two cytokines involved in inflammation. The company is evaluating sonelokimab in conditions including hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis, with the goal of addressing significant unmet needs in chronic inflammatory disease.

MoonLake was established to advance sonelokimab and related immunology programs and has developed its business around a Nanobody-based drug-development platform.