MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) Shares Down 6.4% – What’s Next?

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) shares fell 6.4% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $5.20 and last traded at $5.2250. 3,973,738 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 3,696,619 shares. The stock had previously closed at $5.58.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MNKD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of MannKind from $8.00 to $7.50 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MannKind from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of MannKind in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of MannKind in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of MannKind in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $10.06.

MannKind Stock Down 6.6%

The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.10 and a beta of 0.81. The company’s 50-day moving average is $5.59 and its 200-day moving average is $4.99.

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.02. MannKind had a negative return on equity of 49.33% and a net margin of 9.32%.The company had revenue of $82.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $80.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.04 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that MannKind Corporation will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MannKind

In other MannKind news, CEO Michael Castagna sold 107,920 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.57, for a total transaction of $601,114.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,504,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,951,691.44. This represents a 4.13% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Stuart A. Tross sold 47,006 shares of MannKind stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.33, for a total transaction of $297,547.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 985,007 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,235,094.31. This trade represents a 4.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 281,623 shares of company stock worth $1,641,289 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 2.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of MannKind

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of MannKind in the third quarter valued at about $61,297,000. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of MannKind by 146.7% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,194,739 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $27,896,000 after acquiring an additional 3,088,820 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of MannKind by 316.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,467,721 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $18,622,000 after purchasing an additional 2,634,533 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MannKind by 12.3% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,617,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $28,494,000 after purchasing an additional 831,478 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MannKind by 25.5% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 4,065,904 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $15,206,000 after purchasing an additional 825,608 shares in the last quarter. 49.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MannKind Company Profile

MannKind Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products. The company’s core business revolves around its proprietary Technosphere® drug?delivery platform, which is designed to enable rapid absorption of small?molecule drugs through pulmonary administration. MannKind’s lead product, Afrezza®, is an inhaled insulin therapy intended for adults with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, offering users a rapid?acting alternative to traditional injectable insulins.

Afrezza received U.S.