ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Stock Keeps Buy Rating at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC restated their buy rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) in a research note published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $35.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective (down from $40.00) on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.34.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.6%

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $19.80 on Monday. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $18.39 and a 1-year high of $30.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.92 and a beta of 0.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $25.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.02.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $308.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $296.55 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 33.42% and a return on equity of 9.03%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.16 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.64 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Elizabeth Thompson sold 16,558 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.13, for a total transaction of $432,660.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 18,994 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $496,313.22. This represents a 46.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark Schneyer sold 14,292 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.22, for a total transaction of $417,612.24. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 67,828 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,981,934.16. The trade was a 17.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 36,699 shares of company stock valued at $1,019,894 over the last three months. Insiders own 26.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $569,634,000. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 47.3% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,343,868 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $74,435,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,834 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 8.0% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,155,160 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $70,222,000 after purchasing an additional 234,186 shares during the last quarter. Palo Alto Investors LP purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $72,461,629. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA boosted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 31.0% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 2,026,044 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,736,000 after purchasing an additional 478,941 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for central nervous system and neuropsychiatric disorders. The company’s research programs target conditions with significant unmet medical needs, including neurological and rare neurodevelopmental diseases.

ACADIA’s commercial products include NUPLAZID (pimavanserin), an atypical antipsychotic approved in the United States to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson’s disease psychosis.