Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) was upgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CSTL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Castle Biosciences in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Castle Biosciences from $37.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 22nd. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Castle Biosciences in a research note on Thursday, January 29th. BTIG Research upped their target price on Castle Biosciences from $38.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Castle Biosciences from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.14.

Castle Biosciences Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:CSTL opened at $38.94 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.14 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.53 and a beta of 1.06. Castle Biosciences has a 1 year low of $14.59 and a 1 year high of $44.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 6.31 and a current ratio of 6.47.

Castle Biosciences (NASDAQ:CSTL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.02) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.34) by $0.32. Castle Biosciences had a negative net margin of 3.56% and a positive return on equity of 1.73%. The firm had revenue of $80.55 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $71.06 million. Equities analysts forecast that Castle Biosciences will post 0.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Tobin W. Juvenal sold 4,693 shares of Castle Biosciences stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.58, for a total transaction of $166,976.94. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 84,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,009,890.10. The trade was a 5.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, COO Kristen M. Oelschlager sold 14,888 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.31, for a total value of $585,247.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 12,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $484,417.13. This trade represents a 54.71% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 35,408 shares of company stock worth $1,380,970 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 7.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Castle Biosciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Castle Biosciences by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,807,644 shares of the company’s stock worth $70,317,000 after buying an additional 13,289 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in Castle Biosciences by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 23,628 shares of the company’s stock valued at $919,000 after acquiring an additional 257 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in Castle Biosciences by 28.6% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 12,600 shares of the company’s stock worth $490,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA acquired a new position in Castle Biosciences during the 4th quarter worth $229,000. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Castle Biosciences in the 4th quarter worth about $236,000. 92.60% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Castle Biosciences

Castle Biosciences, Inc is a molecular diagnostics company specializing in the development and commercialization of prognostic and diagnostic tests for patients with dermatologic conditions. The company’s proprietary portfolio of genomic assays is designed to improve risk assessment and guide clinical decision-making for individuals with skin cancers and other skin-related diseases. By combining genomic data with advanced statistical algorithms, Castle Biosciences seeks to provide actionable insights that help physicians tailor treatment plans and monitoring strategies.

The company’s flagship test, DecisionDx-Melanoma, evaluates the probability of metastasis in patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma, supporting more personalized surveillance and therapeutic approaches.