1,660,000 Shares in MannKind Corporation $MNKD Acquired by EcoR1 Capital LLC

EcoR1 Capital LLC acquired a new position in MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,660,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,412,000. MannKind makes up about 0.4% of EcoR1 Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in MannKind by 51.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,047,869 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $10,997,000 after purchasing an additional 695,852 shares in the last quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC grew its stake in MannKind by 34.7% in the fourth quarter. Deltec Asset Management LLC now owns 974,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,527,000 after purchasing an additional 251,200 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in MannKind by 1.4% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. bought a new position in MannKind in the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,956,000. Finally, Apis Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MannKind during the 4th quarter valued at $6,805,000. Institutional investors own 49.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MNKD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised MannKind from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 6th. Wedbush dropped their target price on MannKind from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings cut MannKind from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. HC Wainwright increased their target price on MannKind from $8.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $11.00 target price on MannKind and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MannKind currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.97.

MannKind Price Performance

Shares of MNKD stock opened at $3.92 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -55.99 and a beta of 1.13. The business has a fifty day moving average of $3.19 and a 200 day moving average of $4.20. MannKind Corporation has a 1 year low of $2.23 and a 1 year high of $6.51.

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $90.17 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $105.38 million. MannKind had a negative return on equity of 11.21% and a negative net margin of 6.63%.The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MannKind Corporation will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at MannKind

In related news, Director Steven B. Binder sold 16,940 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.29, for a total value of $55,732.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 808,008 shares in the company, valued at $2,658,346.32. This trade represents a 2.05% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. 2.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About MannKind

MannKind Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of inhaled therapeutic products for endocrine and orphan lung diseases in the United States. It offers Afrezza, an inhaled insulin used to improve glycemic control in adults with diabetes, and the V-Go wearable insulin delivery device, which provides continuous subcutaneous infusion of insulin in adults. The company's product pipeline also includes Tyvaso DPI (Treprostinil), an inhalation powder for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease; MNKD-101, a nebulized formulation of clofazimine, for the treatment of severe chronic and recurrent pulmonary infections, including nontuberculous mycobacterial lung disease; MNKD-201, a dry-powder formulation of nintedanib, for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF).