Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) Shares Down 6.9% After Analyst Downgrade

Arcutis Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQT) shares traded down 6.9% during trading on Monday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $37.00 to $35.00. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Arcutis Biotherapeutics traded as low as $25.02 and last traded at $25.1110. 486,601 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 1,429,953 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.97.

ARQT has been the subject of a number of other reports. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Wall Street Zen cut Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Todd Watanabe sold 37,349 shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $940,447.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 785,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,790,397.26. The trade was a 4.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Larry Todd Edwards sold 3,687 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.18, for a total transaction of $92,838.66. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 175,178 shares in the company, valued at $4,410,982.04. This trade represents a 2.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 175,233 shares of company stock valued at $4,537,485 in the last three months. 9.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARQT. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 248,196 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 43,716 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 71,417 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,118,000 after acquiring an additional 2,063 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 101.1% in the 2nd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after purchasing an additional 5,994 shares in the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $238,000. Finally, Atlas Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at $138,000.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a current ratio of 3.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a PE ratio of -168.56 and a beta of 1.66. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $27.02 and a 200-day moving average of $24.03.

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

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.