Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT)

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 21,719 call options on the company. This is an increase of 1,193% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,680 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $15.00 price objective on the stock.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Price Performance

ARQT stock traded up $1.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $14.71. 1,278,629 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,122,863. Arcutis Biotherapeutics has a one year low of $2.28 and a one year high of $15.02. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.83. The company has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.14 and a beta of 1.32.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.33) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.42) by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $44.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.05 million. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative return on equity of 119.11% and a negative net margin of 140.97%. Equities analysts forecast that Arcutis Biotherapeutics will post -1.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arcutis Biotherapeutics

In other Arcutis Biotherapeutics news, Director Howard G. Welgus sold 10,000 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.51, for a total value of $125,100.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 161,944 shares in the company, valued at $2,025,919.44. This trade represents a 5.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Larry Todd Edwards sold 3,725 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.01, for a total value of $37,287.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 136,635 shares in the company, valued at $1,367,716.35. This represents a 2.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 76,951 shares of company stock valued at $770,144. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,470,138 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,977,000 after acquiring an additional 48,868 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 45.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 253,392 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,356,000 after buying an additional 79,579 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 30.9% during the third quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 47,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $444,000 after purchasing an additional 11,262 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 9.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $52,467,000 after purchasing an additional 506,788 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Company Profile

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing treatments for dermatological diseases. Its lead product candidate is ARQ-151, a topical roflumilast cream that has completed Phase III clinical trials for the treatment of plaque psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.