Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) Insider Sells 8,733 Shares

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) insider Masaru Matsuda sold 8,733 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total value of $220,944.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,932 shares in the company, valued at $3,464,379.60. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Masaru Matsuda also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 27th, Masaru Matsuda sold 3,325 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.95, for a total value of $92,933.75.
• On Monday, February 2nd, Masaru Matsuda sold 40,638 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.28, for a total value of $1,027,328.64.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ARQT traded down $1.16 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $23.60. 1,889,246 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,373,037. The company has a current ratio of 3.17, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. has a twelve month low of $11.86 and a twelve month high of $31.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $27.02 and a 200 day moving average of $24.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -168.56 and a beta of 1.66.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.10. Arcutis Biotherapeutics had a negative net margin of 4.29% and a negative return on equity of 10.26%. The company had revenue of $129.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $110.79 million. On average, analysts forecast that Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. will post -1.33 EPS for the current year.

Trending Headlines about Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Arcutis Biotherapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Arcutis announced first participant enrollment in a Phase 1a/1b study of ARQ-234 (a CD200R agonist) to evaluate safety/tolerability in healthy volunteers and adults with moderate–severe atopic dermatitis — a clear pipeline positive that supports long-term growth potential. ARQ-234 trial enrollment
• Neutral Sentiment: Broker action: Mizuho lowered its price target from $37 to $35 but kept an “Outperform” rating — a modest near-term negative signal (slightly lower PT) but still positive conviction from the analyst. Mizuho note
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund reporting: Baron Health Care Fund published Q4 2025 activity (fund filings sometimes move small- and mid-cap biotechs), but the feed doesn’t specify a material position change in ARQT. Baron fund activity
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data in the feed is inconsistent/erroneous (reports show 0 shares / NaN changes), so it provides no actionable signal to explain today’s move. Investors should treat those figures as unreliable until clarified by exchange data.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: multiple company insiders sold shares on Feb 27–Mar 2 (including Todd Watanabe, Masaru Matsuda, Patrick Burnett, CFO Latha Vairavan and others). The aggregated sales total ~62,000 shares across named insiders (largest single sale ~37,349 shares by Watanabe). Insider sales can be interpreted as near-term negative sentiment or simple liquidity diversification — but the market often reacts negatively to clustered insider dispositions. Representative SEC filings: Todd Watanabe sale Watanabe Form 4, Masaru Matsuda filings Matsuda Form 4

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ARQT has been the topic of several recent research reports. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased their price target on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $37.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 26th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 14th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sit Investment Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at $376,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 59.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 307,382 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,926,000 after purchasing an additional 114,430 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $255,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp bought a new position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,374,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 209.0% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,545 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 1,045 shares in the last quarter.

About Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Arcutis Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for immuno-inflammatory skin diseases. The company’s research and development efforts center on targeted treatments that address the underlying biology of conditions such as plaque psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis and vitiligo. Arcutis employs a precision-medicine approach to deliver topical therapies designed to improve efficacy and tolerability compared with existing treatment options.

In August 2022, Arcutis received U.S.