Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) Receives Average Recommendation of “Buy” from Analysts

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Buy” by the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $37.7778.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on MPLT shares. Lifesci Capital upgraded Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Craig Hallum assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price target for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 28th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Maplight Therapeutics

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,905,415.86. This trade represents a 7.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Vishwas Setia sold 10,564 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $298,327.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 356,256 shares in the company, valued at $10,060,669.44. This trade represents a 2.88% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461 over the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 1st quarter valued at $1,113,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth $7,622,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 39,465 shares of the company’s stock worth $802,000 after acquiring an additional 3,608 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $49,168,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of MPLT stock opened at $29.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.20. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.71. Maplight Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $12.24 and a 1 year high of $33.28.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, research analysts predict that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.04 EPS for the current year.

About Maplight Therapeutics

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.