Mizuho Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) Stock Price

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) had its price target lowered by analysts at Mizuho from $37.00 to $35.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Mizuho’s price objective points to a potential upside of 48.31% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on ARQT. Zacks Research cut shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $31.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price target on Arcutis Biotherapeutics from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arcutis Biotherapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.86.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics stock opened at $23.60 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -168.56 and a beta of 1.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 3.17 and a quick ratio of 2.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.02 and a 200 day moving average of $24.03. Arcutis Biotherapeutics has a 12 month low of $11.86 and a 12 month high of $31.77.

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ:ARQT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The company reported $0.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $110.79 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arcutis Biotherapeutics will post -1.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Arcutis Biotherapeutics

In other news, insider Todd Watanabe sold 37,349 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 785,957 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,790,397.26. This represents a 4.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Masaru Matsuda sold 8,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total transaction of $220,944.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 136,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,464,379.60. The trade was a 6.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 175,233 shares of company stock worth $4,537,485 over the last three months. Company insiders own 9.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arcutis Biotherapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 21.4% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 248,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,882,000 after buying an additional 43,716 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 3.0% during the first 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 during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics by 101.1% during the second quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $167,000 after acquiring an additional 5,994 shares during the last quarter. Corton Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $238,000. Finally, Atlas Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Arcutis Biotherapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $138,000.

More Arcutis Biotherapeutics News

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

Arcutis Biotherapeutics Company Profile

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.