Nuvalent (NASDAQ:NUVL) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

Nuvalent, Inc. (NASDAQ:NUVL) saw unusually-strong trading volume on Wednesday after The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on the stock from $120.00 to $135.00. The Goldman Sachs Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. Approximately 843,131 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the previous session’s volume of 530,065 shares.The stock last traded at $107.0370 and had previously closed at $104.24.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on NUVL. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Nuvalent from $112.00 to $158.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Nuvalent from $112.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Nuvalent from $115.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Nuvalent in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $105.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on Nuvalent in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $135.00 price target on the stock. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Nuvalent presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.69.

Insider Activity

In other Nuvalent news, CFO Alexandra Balcom sold 20,000 shares of Nuvalent stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.51, for a total transaction of $1,770,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 61,734 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,464,076.34. The trade was a 24.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Richard Porter sold 27,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.63, for a total transaction of $2,447,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 249,062 shares in the company, valued at $22,572,489.06. This trade represents a 9.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 246,071 shares of company stock worth $22,589,016 in the last three months. Company insiders own 10.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Nuvalent

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CWM LLC increased its position in Nuvalent by 588.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 420 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 359 shares in the last quarter. Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Nuvalent during the third quarter valued at $38,000. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Nuvalent during the first quarter valued at $38,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Nuvalent during the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in Nuvalent by 705.7% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 983 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.26% of the company’s stock.

Nuvalent Trading Up 2.7%

The stock has a market cap of $7.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.12 and a beta of 1.31. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $89.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.25.

Nuvalent (NASDAQ:NUVL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The company reported ($1.70) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.39) by ($0.31). During the same period last year, the firm posted ($1.28) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Nuvalent, Inc. will post -3.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Nuvalent

Nuvalent, Inc, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapies for patients with cancer. Its lead product candidates are NVL-520, a novel ROS1-selective inhibitor to address the clinical challenges of emergent treatment resistance, central nervous system (CNS)-related adverse events, and brain metastases that may limit the use of ROS1 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for patients with ROS proto-oncogene 1 (ROS1)-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) which is under the phase 2 portion of the ARROS-1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial; NVL-655, a brain-penetrant ALK-selective inhibitor, to address the clinical challenges of emergent treatment resistance, CNS-related adverse events, and brain metastases that might limit the use of first-, second-, and third-generation ALK inhibitors that is under the phase 2 portion of the ALKOVE-1 Phase 1/2 clinical trial; and NVL-330, a brain-penetrant human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-selective inhibitor designed to treat tumors driven by HER2ex20, brain metastases, and avoiding treatment-limiting adverse events including due to off-target inhibition of wild-type EGFR, which is expected to initiate phase 1 trial.