Ventyx Biosciences (NASDAQ:VTYX) Shares Up 13.5% – Here’s Why

Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:VTYX)’s stock price shot up 13.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $8.80 and last traded at $8.7850. 798,264 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 2,092,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.74.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on VTYX. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Ventyx Biosciences from $14.00 to $16.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Ventyx Biosciences from $9.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Ventyx Biosciences from $11.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. HC Wainwright upgraded Ventyx Biosciences from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $18.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ventyx Biosciences in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $15.50.

Ventyx Biosciences Stock Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.50. The company has a market cap of $623.69 million, a P/E ratio of -5.83 and a beta of 1.22.

Ventyx Biosciences (NASDAQ:VTYX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.13. Equities research analysts expect that Ventyx Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.09 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ventyx Biosciences

In other news, insider John Nuss sold 12,675 shares of Ventyx Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total value of $97,851.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 489,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,778,793.32. The trade was a 2.52% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Raju Mohan sold 47,345 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.72, for a total transaction of $365,503.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,372,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,318,502.36. This represents a 1.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 14.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ventyx Biosciences

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Ventyx Biosciences during the 2nd quarter worth $71,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ventyx Biosciences during the first quarter valued at $194,000. Ieq Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Ventyx Biosciences during the first quarter worth about $223,000. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ventyx Biosciences in the 2nd quarter worth about $9,707,000. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in Ventyx Biosciences by 8.4% in the 2nd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 945,206 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,023,000 after purchasing an additional 73,601 shares during the last quarter. 97.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ventyx Biosciences Company Profile

Ventyx Biosciences, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, develops small molecule product candidates to address a range of inflammatory diseases. The company’s lead clinical product candidate is VTX958, a selective allosteric tyrosine kinase type 2 inhibitor for psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and Crohn’s disease. It is also developing VTX002, a sphingosine 1 phosphate receptor modulator that is in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of ulcerative colitis; and VTX2735, a peripheral-targeted NOD-like receptor protein 3 inflammasome inhibitor to treat patients with cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome.