Vetr downgraded shares of Kite Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ:KITE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday, July 24th. The firm currently has $116.82 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.
Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on KITE. Canaccord Genuity set a $90.00 target price on Kite Pharma and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 6th. Roth Capital reissued a buy rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Kite Pharma in a research note on Thursday, April 6th. Cowen and Company reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Kite Pharma in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. FBR & Co reaffirmed a buy rating on shares of Kite Pharma in a research report on Tuesday, May 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an underperform rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Kite Pharma in a research report on Friday, June 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. The company presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $88.93.
Shares of Kite Pharma (NASDAQ KITE) opened at 130.18 on Monday. Kite Pharma has a 12 month low of $39.82 and a 12 month high of $130.64. The company’s market capitalization is $7.44 billion. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.63.
Kite Pharma (NASDAQ:KITE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.94) EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of ($1.97) by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $10.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.59 million. Kite Pharma had a negative return on equity of 59.56% and a negative net margin of 1,117.44%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 110.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.91) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Kite Pharma will post ($8.19) EPS for the current year.
In other Kite Pharma news, Director Roy Doumani sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.48, for a total transaction of $1,267,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 155,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,095,836.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Cynthia M. Butitta sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.55, for a total transaction of $885,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 127,795 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,316,247.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 266,299 shares of company stock valued at $28,364,633 in the last ninety days. 14.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kite Pharma by 8.0% in the first quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 71,160 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $5,585,000 after buying an additional 5,273 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Kite Pharma by 72.9% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 30,606 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $2,403,000 after buying an additional 12,909 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of Kite Pharma during the first quarter valued at about $447,000. Profund Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Kite Pharma by 0.8% in the first quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 21,361 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment Corp IL purchased a new stake in Kite Pharma during the first quarter worth $522,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.94% of the company’s stock.
About Kite Pharma
Kite Pharma, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The Company is focused on the development and commercialization of cancer immunotherapy products to target and kill cancer cells. The Company offers engineered autologous cell therapy, which is an approach to the treatment of cancer. Its therapy involves modifying a patient’s T cells outside the patient’s body, or ex vivo, causing the T cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), or T cell receptors (TCRs), and then reinfusing the engineered T cells back into the patient.
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