Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CRNX) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 6,120,000 shares, a decline of 7.0% from the July 15th total of 6,580,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 930,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.6 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Marc Wilson sold 32,129 shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total transaction of $1,401,145.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 111,092 shares in the company, valued at $4,844,722.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Crinetics Pharmaceuticals news, insider Stephen F. Betz sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.86, for a total transaction of $131,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 83,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,668,581.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Marc Wilson sold 32,129 shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.61, for a total transaction of $1,401,145.69. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 111,092 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,844,722.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 170,016 shares of company stock valued at $8,320,842 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 6.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,126 shares of the company’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 20.8% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 2,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $121,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $33,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 38,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,783,000 after purchasing an additional 927 shares during the period. Finally, Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at $42,000. 98.51% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 1.7 %

CRNX opened at $53.83 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.15 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.74. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -14.21 and a beta of 0.68. Crinetics Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $15.76 and a 1-year high of $55.78.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CRNX) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.94) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $0.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.94) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Crinetics Pharmaceuticals will post -3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $97.00 price objective on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, June 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Crinetics Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.75.

About Crinetics Pharmaceuticals

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutics for rare endocrine diseases and endocrine-related tumors. The company's lead product candidate is paltusotine, an oral selective nonpeptide somatostatin receptor type 2 agonist, which is in Phase 3 trial for the treatment of acromegaly; and Phase 2 trial for treating carcinoid syndrome associated with neuroendocrine tumors.