MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have assigned a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $9.0625.

MNKD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of MannKind from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 28th. Weiss Ratings cut MannKind from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $3.50 price objective (down from $7.50) on shares of MannKind in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on MannKind from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on MannKind in a report on Thursday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 target price on the stock.

MannKind Price Performance

MannKind stock opened at $2.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $5.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.33. MannKind has a 1-year low of $2.81 and a 1-year high of $6.51. The company has a market cap of $871.92 million, a PE ratio of 141.57 and a beta of 0.83.

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01) by ($0.04). MannKind had a net margin of 1.68% and a negative return on equity of 11.21%. The business had revenue of $111.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.85 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. MannKind’s revenue was up 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MannKind will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other MannKind news, insider Stuart A. Tross sold 47,006 shares of MannKind stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $6,235,094.31. The trade was a 4.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Michael Castagna sold 65,804 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.01, for a total transaction of $395,482.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,504,792 shares in the company, valued at $15,053,799.92. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 154,926 shares of company stock valued at $945,726 over the last 90 days. 2.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of MannKind

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MannKind by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,880,873 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $101,385,000 after purchasing an additional 250,290 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MannKind by 36.2% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,623,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $82,914,000 after buying an additional 3,883,071 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP acquired a new position in MannKind during the third quarter valued at $61,297,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MannKind by 12.3% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,617,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $28,494,000 after purchasing an additional 831,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG boosted its stake in shares of MannKind by 146.7% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 5,194,739 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $27,896,000 after buying an additional 3,088,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.55% of the company’s stock.

About MannKind

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.