Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTL) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Castle Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTL) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,710,000 shares, a growth of 6.2% from the October 31st total of 1,610,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 387,600 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Castle Biosciences Stock Performance

Castle Biosciences stock opened at $30.78 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.81. Castle Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $16.97 and a fifty-two week high of $35.84. The stock has a market cap of $862.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 153.91 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 7.64 and a current ratio of 7.78.

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.14. Castle Biosciences had a net margin of 1.95% and a return on equity of 1.47%. The business had revenue of $85.78 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Castle Biosciences will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CSTL. Scotiabank increased their price target on Castle Biosciences from $37.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Castle Biosciences from $35.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Lake Street Capital boosted their price target on Castle Biosciences from $34.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. BTIG Research boosted their price objective on Castle Biosciences from $35.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Castle Biosciences from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $37.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at Castle Biosciences

In other Castle Biosciences news, CFO Frank Stokes sold 6,923 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.93, for a total transaction of $207,205.39. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 30,823 shares in the company, valued at approximately $922,532.39. This trade represents a 18.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Derek J. Maetzold sold 1,972 shares of Castle Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.15, for a total value of $67,343.80. Following the sale, the insider now owns 87,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,995,638. This represents a 2.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 24,213 shares of company stock worth $752,673. 7.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CSTL. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Castle Biosciences by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,538,520 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,879,000 after purchasing an additional 40,377 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Castle Biosciences by 2.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,494,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,096,000 after acquiring an additional 32,695 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Group AG raised its holdings in shares of Castle Biosciences by 3.7% in the third quarter. Bellevue Group AG now owns 1,262,030 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,993,000 after buying an additional 44,929 shares during the last quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Castle Biosciences by 3.7% in the third quarter. Portolan Capital Management LLC now owns 1,255,628 shares of the company’s stock worth $35,811,000 after buying an additional 44,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Castle Biosciences by 8.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 809,934 shares of the company’s stock worth $17,631,000 after purchasing an additional 60,675 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.60% of the company’s stock.

About Castle Biosciences

Castle Biosciences, Inc, a molecular diagnostics company, provides testing solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of dermatologic cancers, Barrett's esophagus, uveal melanoma, and mental health conditions. It offers DecisionDx-Melanoma, a risk stratification gene expression profile (GEP) test to identify the risk of metastasis for patients diagnosed with invasive cutaneous melanoma; DecisionDx-SCC, a proprietary risk stratification GEP test for patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma; MyPath Melanoma, a test used for patients with difficult-to-diagnose melanocytic lesions; and TissueCypher, a spatial omics test to predict future development of high-grade dysplasia and/or esophageal cancer in patients with non-dysplastic, indefinite dysplasia, or low-grade dysplasia Barrett's esophagus.