MNKD received a $12.5 million milestone payment from United Therapeutics
Biopharmaceutical concern MannKind Corporation (NASDAQ:MNKD) is volatile today, after the company received a $12.5 million milestone payment from United Therapeutics (UTHR). The payment is part of a collaboration agreement -- worth up to $37.5 million in milestone payments for MNKD -- to develop and commercialize MNKD's hypertension treatment as a dry powder formula. After jumping 1.5% out of the gate, the shares were last seen down 2.5% at $1.92.
The equity rallied hard off its December low of $0.94, and hit a six-month high of $2.34 on March 20. The shares have since pulled back below the $2 mark -- a 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of that recent surge, and a layer of resistance last June and October. The penny stock is still up 81.5% year-to-date, though.
While analysts are relatively quiet on MannKind, the two brokerages that do follow the drugmaker give it "buy" and "strong buy" ratings. Plus the consensus 12-month target price of $3.50 represents an 82.3% premium to current levels, and sits in an area not seen since January 2018.
Short sellers, meanwhile, have piled on their bearish bets. Short interest rose 5.4% in the latest reporting period, and now accounts for a solid 21.6% of the stock's available float, or 10 times the security's average daily trading volume.