Short Interest in Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) Declines By 23.6%

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,110,000 shares, a decline of 23.6% from the February 28th total of 19,770,000 shares. Currently, 14.3% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,350,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Price Performance

ARQT traded down $1.69 on Friday, hitting $14.47. 1,056,626 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,421,998. Arcutis Biotherapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $6.99 and a fifty-two week high of $17.75. The stock has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.11 and a beta of 1.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $14.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $12.38. The company has a current ratio of 2.46, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.28) by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $71.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.52 million. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 140.97% and a negative return on equity of 119.11%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arcutis Biotherapeutics will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

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Insider Activity at Arcutis Biotherapeutics

In other Arcutis Biotherapeutics news, insider Todd Franklin Watanabe sold 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.52, for a total value of $26,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 927,414 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,248,293.28. This represents a 0.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Howard G. Welgus sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.71, for a total transaction of $127,100.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 141,944 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,804,108.24. The trade was a 6.58 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 46,099 shares of company stock worth $631,256 in the last three months. Company insiders own 9.50% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI grew its holdings in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Fishman Jay A Ltd. MI now owns 536,400 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,472,000 after buying an additional 118,400 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 45.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 253,392 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,356,000 after acquiring an additional 79,579 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 9.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,641,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $52,467,000 after purchasing an additional 506,788 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 2.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,470,138 shares of the company's stock worth $22,977,000 after purchasing an additional 48,868 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics during the third quarter worth about $2,273,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on ARQT shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $19.00 price objective on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $20.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $18.80.

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.