ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Lifted to Strong-Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Friday.

Several other research analysts also recently issued reports on ACAD. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, June 27th. They set an outperform rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ ACAD opened at $16.32 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.15. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $14.55 and a twelve month high of $32.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a PE ratio of -1,630.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.40.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $241.96 million during 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 quarterly revenue was up 46.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 2,251,940 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $45,187,000. Eventide Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,342,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 36.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,937,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $47,738,000 after acquiring an additional 781,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $10,550,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

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.