Traders Buy High Volume of MannKind Call Options (NASDAQ:MNKD)

MannKind Co. (NASDAQ:MNKD) saw some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 3,211 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 63% compared to the typical volume of 1,971 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in MannKind in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in MannKind by 3,294.8% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 6,586 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 6,392 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in MannKind in the 4th quarter worth about $65,000. Beirne Wealth Consulting Services LLC purchased a new position in MannKind in the 4th quarter worth about $66,000. Finally, Marshall Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in MannKind in the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MNKD shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of MannKind from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $7.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of MannKind in a research note on Friday, December 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $9.00 target price for the company. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of MannKind in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of MannKind from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MannKind has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.21.

MannKind Trading Up 1.0 %

MannKind stock opened at $5.20 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $5.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $6.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 74.29 and a beta of 1.27. MannKind has a 12-month low of $3.97 and a 12-month high of $7.63.

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.03. The firm had revenue of $76.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.99 million. MannKind had a net margin of 8.07% and a negative return on equity of 17.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MannKind will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MannKind Company Profile

MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products for endocrine and orphan lung diseases in the United States. It offers Afrezza, an inhaled insulin used to improve glycemic control in adults with diabetes, and the V-Go wearable insulin delivery device, which provides continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin in adults.