Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Invests $800,000 in Incyte Corporation $INCY

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,500 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in INCY. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Incyte during the 4th quarter worth $122,893,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec grew its stake in shares of Incyte by 264.5% during the third quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 1,498,013 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $127,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,087,091 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Incyte by 6,586.4% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,072,491 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $105,930,000 after buying an additional 1,056,451 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Incyte by 3,406.8% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 739,378 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $73,028,000 after buying an additional 718,294 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Incyte by 5,218.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 596,840 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $58,950,000 after acquiring an additional 585,618 shares during the last quarter. 96.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Pablo J. Cagnoni sold 18,667 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.50, for a total transaction of $1,801,365.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 262,692 shares in the company, valued at $25,349,778. This represents a 6.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 16.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Incyte from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $94.00 in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Incyte from $103.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $123.00 price target on shares of Incyte in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Incyte in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on Incyte in a report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $99.00 price target for the company. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and fourteen have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $108.20.

Incyte Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of Incyte stock traded up $1.22 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $116.84. The stock had a trading volume of 71,428 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,762,553. The company has a current ratio of 3.68, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $101.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.99. Incyte Corporation has a 52 week low of $67.06 and a 52 week high of $118.69.

Incyte (NASDAQ:INCY) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.38 by $0.43. Incyte had a return on equity of 26.66% and a net margin of 26.71%.The business had revenue of $1.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.16 EPS. Incyte’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Incyte Corporation will post 6.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Incyte Profile

Incyte Corporation is a Wilmington, Delaware–based biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies in oncology and inflammation. Since its founding in 2002, Incyte has grown from a small research organization into a global enterprise, advancing a portfolio of internally developed and partnered assets. The company’s research and development efforts center on small-molecule drugs and biologics that modulate critical signaling pathways implicated in cancer, autoimmune disorders and rare diseases.

The company’s flagship product is Jakafi® (ruxolitinib), a Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor approved for the treatment of myelofibrosis and polycythemia vera.