Arcus Biosciences (NYSE:RCUS) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

Arcus Biosciences, Inc. (NYSE:RCUS) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Thursday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $40.00 to $41.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. 2,025,172 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 51% from the previous session’s volume of 1,342,331 shares. The stock last traded at $19.1410 and had previously closed at $19.10.

RCUS has been the subject of several other research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcus Biosciences in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Arcus Biosciences in a report on Friday, September 11th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Arcus Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Wedbush lifted their price target on Arcus Biosciences from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, William Blair assumed coverage on Arcus Biosciences in a report on Friday, October 16th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Alexander Azoy sold 2,827 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.00, for a total value of $84,810.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 39,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,430. The trade was a 6.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 7.60% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Arcus Biosciences

Here are the key news stories impacting Arcus Biosciences this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New ARC-20 data showed casdatifan activity across first-line, second-line and later-line clear cell renal cell carcinoma, with competitive or superior progression-free survival and response rates versus historical benchmarks and manageable safety. The results support Arcus’s goal of developing casdatifan as a treatment across multiple lines of kidney-cancer therapy. Arcus Presents New ARC-20 Casdatifan Data
• Positive Sentiment: Truist raised its price target to $41 and Wedbush increased its target to $49, maintaining bullish ratings. The revisions indicate that analysts see substantial upside if casdatifan’s clinical promise translates into successful late-stage development and commercialization.
• Neutral Sentiment: Arcus priced an underwritten public offering of 14.29 million common shares at $17.50 each, expected to generate approximately $250 million in gross proceeds. The funds should strengthen the company’s balance sheet and support clinical development, but the financing was priced around prevailing trading levels and increases the share count. Arcus Announces Pricing of $250 Million Offering
• Negative Sentiment: The equity sale creates immediate dilution for existing shareholders and highlights Arcus’s continuing need to fund expensive clinical programs before generating meaningful product revenue. The company remains loss-making, making financing terms and cash usage important risks for investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Kuehn Law announced an investigation into potential fiduciary-duty violations and alleged self-dealing by certain officers and directors. Although no wrongdoing has been established, the announcement adds legal and reputational uncertainty. Kuehn Law Announces Arcus Investigation

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new stake in Arcus Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth $16,741,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Arcus Biosciences during the second quarter worth $5,906,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Arcus Biosciences during the second quarter worth $506,113,000. Corient Private Wealth LP acquired a new position in Arcus Biosciences during the second quarter worth $1,823,000. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Arcus Biosciences during the first quarter valued at $1,862,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.89% of the company’s stock.

Arcus Biosciences Trading Up 1.6%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 3.82 and a quick ratio of 3.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a PE ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $26.22.

Arcus Biosciences (NYSE:RCUS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported ($0.72) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.89) by $0.17. Arcus Biosciences had a negative net margin of 393.16% and a negative return on equity of 89.54%. The business had revenue of $41.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.98 million. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 74.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Arcus Biosciences, Inc. will post -3.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Arcus Biosciences

Arcus Biosciences, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. The company uses its research platform to discover and advance medicines designed to target immune suppression and other biological mechanisms involved in tumor growth.

Arcus’s oncology pipeline has included antibody-based and small-molecule therapies aimed at targets such as TIGIT, PD-1, CD73, and the adenosine A2A and A2B receptors. Its key development programs have included domvanalimab, zimberelimab, quemliclustat, and etrumadenant, which have been evaluated in clinical studies across several cancer types, including lung, gastrointestinal, and colorectal cancers.

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hayward, California, Arcus conducts research and clinical-development activities intended to support potential commercialization in international markets.