Short Interest in Incyte Co. (NASDAQ:INCY) Grows By 8.1%

Incyte Co. (NASDAQ:INCY) was the target of a large increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,350,000 shares, an increase of 8.1% from the September 30th total of 6,800,000 shares. Approximately 3.9% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 1,860,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 4.0 days.

Incyte Price Performance

INCY opened at $74.12 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $61.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 5.31 and a beta of 0.73. Incyte has a 52-week low of $50.27 and a 52-week high of $74.68.

Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.82) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($2.60). Incyte had a net margin of 2.52% and a return on equity of 0.75%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.77 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Incyte will post 0.66 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Jonathan Elliott Dickinson sold 8,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.36, for a total transaction of $526,942.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 36,390 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,269,280.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Jonathan Elliott Dickinson sold 8,450 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.36, for a total transaction of $526,942.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 36,390 shares in the company, valued at $2,269,280.40. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Thomas Tray sold 572 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $36,001.68. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,825 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,562,485.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 17.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Incyte

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Incyte by 17,460.4% in the second quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,692,182 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $163,200,000 after acquiring an additional 2,676,851 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Incyte by 70.5% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 2,661,758 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $159,905,000 after purchasing an additional 1,101,041 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Incyte by 28.0% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,560,989 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $215,833,000 after purchasing an additional 779,243 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Incyte in the 1st quarter worth approximately $37,440,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Incyte by 122.1% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 892,710 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $54,116,000 after buying an additional 490,680 shares during the last quarter. 96.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on INCY. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Incyte from $86.00 to $92.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Bank of America upgraded Incyte from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Incyte from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $52.00 target price (up from $48.00) on shares of Incyte in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Incyte in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. They set an “outperform” rating and a $84.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Incyte has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.74.

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.