MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) Stock Sees Heavy Call Option Buying

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 4,294 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 274% compared to the average daily volume of 1,147 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on MLTX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from a “sell (e+)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Friday, August 21st. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $50.00 price objective on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics in a report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Leerink Partners increased their target price on shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics from $24.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.50.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MoonLake Immunotherapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 64.7% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 3,451,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,304,000 after buying an additional 1,355,640 shares during the last quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP grew its stake in shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 413.1% in the first quarter. Weiss Asset Management LP now owns 1,708,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,843,000 after acquiring an additional 1,375,367 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. grew its stake in shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 509.0% in the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 818,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $15,250,000 after acquiring an additional 683,797 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 5,255.8% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 724,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,510,000 after acquiring an additional 711,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in MoonLake Immunotherapeutics by 105.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 276,772 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,159,000 after acquiring an additional 142,300 shares during the period. 93.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of MoonLake Immunotherapeutics stock traded up $0.26 on Wednesday, reaching $10.58. The stock had a trading volume of 321,492 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,509,216. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $13.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $16.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 12.56 and a current ratio of 12.56. MoonLake Immunotherapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $8.90 and a fifty-two week high of $23.29. The stock has a market cap of $900.72 million, a P/E ratio of -2.75 and a beta of 1.08.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics (NASDAQ:MLTX) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported ($0.84) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.91) by $0.07. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MoonLake Immunotherapeutics will post -3.34 EPS for the current year.

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics Company Profile

MoonLake Immunotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing medicines for inflammatory and immunologic diseases. The company is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, and its ordinary shares trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol MLTX.

MoonLake’s primary product candidate is sonelokimab, a novel Nanobody-based inhibitor designed to selectively target interleukin-17A and interleukin-17F, two cytokines involved in inflammation. The company is evaluating sonelokimab in conditions including hidradenitis suppurativa, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis, with the goal of addressing significant unmet needs in chronic inflammatory disease.

MoonLake was established to advance sonelokimab and related immunology programs and has developed its business around a Nanobody-based drug-development platform.