MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) Shares Down 6.6% After Analyst Downgrade

MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD)’s share price fell 6.6% during trading on Monday after Weiss Ratings downgraded the stock from a hold (c) rating to a sell (d+) rating. The company traded as low as $3.03 and last traded at $3.0650. 1,435,401 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 5,144,097 shares. The stock had previously closed at $3.28.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Leerink Partners began coverage on MannKind in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $7.00 price objective for the company. Truist Financial set a $9.00 target price on shares of MannKind in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MannKind from $8.00 to $7.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered MannKind from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded MannKind from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MannKind has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $9.21.

Insider Activity at MannKind

In other MannKind news, CEO Michael Castagna sold 65,804 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $15,053,799.92. This trade represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Stuart A. Tross sold 47,006 shares of MannKind stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.33, for a total value of $297,547.98. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 985,007 shares in the company, valued at $6,235,094.31. This represents a 4.55% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 154,926 shares of company stock valued at $945,726 over the last quarter. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MannKind

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of MannKind by 1.4% during 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 period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MannKind by 36.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 14,623,269 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $82,914,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883,071 shares in the last quarter. Rubric Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of MannKind during the third quarter worth $61,297,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $28,494,000 after buying an additional 831,478 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of MannKind by 146.7% in the third 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 in the last quarter. 49.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MannKind Trading Down 3.9%

The company has a fifty day moving average of $5.44 and a 200-day moving average of $5.36. The stock has a market cap of $899.65 million, a PE ratio of 146.07 and a beta of 0.83.

MannKind (NASDAQ:MNKD) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $111.96 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.85 million. MannKind had a net margin of 1.68% and a negative return on equity of 11.12%. The business’s revenue was up 45.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MannKind Corporation will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MannKind Company Profile

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.