Cidara Therapeutics Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NASDAQ:CDTX)

Cidara Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDTX) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 15,470 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 1,606% compared to the typical volume of 907 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CDTX has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. WBB Securities raised their price target on Cidara Therapeutics from $123.00 to $199.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 9th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Cidara Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Cidara Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Cidara Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Cidara Therapeutics from $137.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $156.11.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cidara Therapeutics

In other news, insider Nicole Negar Davarpanah sold 474 shares of Cidara Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.86, for a total value of $29,795.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,974,935.48. The trade was a 1.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bain Capital Life Sciences Investors LLC increased its position in shares of Cidara Therapeutics by 255.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bain Capital Life Sciences Investors LLC now owns 2,500,680 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $121,808,000 after buying an additional 1,797,600 shares in the last quarter. Vivo Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Cidara Therapeutics by 91.7% during the second quarter. Vivo Capital LLC now owns 1,311,425 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $63,880,000 after acquiring an additional 627,149 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Cidara Therapeutics by 27.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,230,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $117,849,000 after acquiring an additional 263,961 shares in the last quarter. Commodore Capital LP acquired a new position in Cidara Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at about $57,234,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Cidara Therapeutics by 11.1% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,100,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $53,581,000 after acquiring an additional 110,000 shares in the last quarter. 35.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Cidara Therapeutics Stock Performance

CDTX traded up $112.45 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $218.44. The stock had a trading volume of 9,032,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 553,352. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -18.55 and a beta of 1.32. Cidara Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $13.90 and a 52 week high of $218.00.

Cidara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CDTX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.43) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.19) by ($0.24). As a group, analysts expect that Cidara Therapeutics will post -8.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Cidara Therapeutics

Cidara Therapeutics, Inc, a biotechnology company, focuses on developing targeted therapies for patients facing cancers and other serious diseases. The company's product includes rezafungin acetate, a novel molecule in the echinocandin class of antifungals for the treatment and prevention of invasive fungal infections, including candidemia and invasive candidiasis, which are fungal infections associated with high mortality rates.