Incyte Co. (NASDAQ:INCY) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Incyte Co. (NASDAQ:INCY) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,100,000 shares, a decrease of 13.1% from the December 15th total of 5,870,000 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,960,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Incyte Stock Down 0.7 %

INCY stock traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $71.93. The company had a trading volume of 1,004,226 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,542,123. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $13.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 513.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.71. Incyte has a fifty-two week low of $50.35 and a fifty-two week high of $83.95.

Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.19 by ($0.12). Incyte had a net margin of 0.80% and a negative return on equity of 0.63%. The firm had revenue of $1.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 23.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Incyte will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on INCY shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of Incyte from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $90.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Incyte from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Incyte from $64.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Incyte in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Incyte from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.29.

Insider Transactions at Incyte

In other Incyte news, insider Thomas Tray sold 650 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.31, for a total value of $45,051.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 23,312 shares in the company, valued at $1,615,754.72. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Vijay K. Iyengar sold 6,043 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.38, for a total value of $455,521.34. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 30,658 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,311,000.04. This trade represents a 16.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,023 shares of company stock valued at $839,711 over the last 90 days. 17.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Incyte

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of Incyte in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Incyte in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. acquired a new stake in Incyte during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its stake in Incyte by 101.1% during the 3rd quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 563 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in Incyte by 11.4% in the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 59,597 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 6,105 shares during the last quarter. 96.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Incyte

Incyte Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapeutics for hematology/oncology, and inflammation and autoimmunity areas in the United States and internationally. The company offers JAKAFI (ruxolitinib) for treatment of intermediate or high-risk myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease; MONJUVI (tafasitamab-cxix)/MINJUVI (tafasitamab) for relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma; PEMAZYRE (pemigatinib), a fibroblast growth factor receptor kinase inhibitor that act as oncogenic drivers in liquid and solid tumor types; ICLUSIG (ponatinib) to treat chronic myeloid leukemia and Philadelphia-chromosome positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia; and ZYNYZ (retifanlimab-dlwr) to treat adults with metastatic or recurrent locally advanced Merkel cell carcinoma, as well as OPZELURA cream for treatment of atopic dermatitis.