ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy”

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, June 27th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.3 %

ACAD traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.32. 859,319 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,754,076. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,630.37, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.40. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $14.55 and a 1-year high of $32.59. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $16.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.15.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $241.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.95 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.52 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $145,679.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 52,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,264.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $145,679.52. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 52,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,264.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 31,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $485,094.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,555 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,850,560.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,014 shares of company stock valued at $779,494 in the last quarter. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 431.1% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,774,353 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $45,083,000 after acquiring an additional 2,251,940 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $45,187,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $25,342,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,937,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,738,000 after buying an additional 781,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth $10,550,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome.