Lazard Asset Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. $ARQT

Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) by 65.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 154,566 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,212 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC owned about 0.12% of Arcutis Biotherapeutics worth $3,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 248,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 43,716 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 71,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,118,000 after buying an additional 2,063 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,575 shares of the company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 1,477 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 548,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,694,000 after buying an additional 5,407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 4,562.5% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock worth $157,000 after acquiring an additional 10,950 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on ARQT. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, July 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arcutis Biotherapeutics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Trading Down 4.0%

Shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock opened at $26.86 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $25.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.36 billion, a PE ratio of -895.03 and a beta of 1.48. Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a 1-year low of $13.69 and a 1-year high of $31.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.68 and a quick ratio of 2.46.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $105.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $103.67 million. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 0.57% and a negative return on equity of 1.41%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post 0.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arcutis Biotherapeutics

In related news, Director Sue-Jean Lin sold 4,946 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.38, for a total transaction of $120,583.48. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 27,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $672,083.46. The trade was a 15.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Latha Vairavan sold 1,341 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.61, for a total value of $31,661.01. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 86,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,040,210.93. This represents a 1.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 23,787 shares of company stock valued at $565,846 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

About Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Arcutis Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for immuno-inflammatory skin diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on targeted treatments that address the underlying biology of conditions such as plaque psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis and vitiligo. Arcutis employs a precision-medicine approach to deliver topical therapies designed to improve efficacy and tolerability compared with existing treatment options.

In August 2022, Arcutis received U.S.