Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume Following Analyst Upgrade

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday after Leerink Partners upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. Leerink Partners now has a $34.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $40.00. Approximately 2,501,672 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 224% from the previous session’s volume of 772,626 shares.The stock last traded at $25.8490 and had previously closed at $22.34.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $57.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised Agios Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Agios Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $56.00 price target on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 13th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $38.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Agios Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Cecilia Jones sold 3,651 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.77, for a total transaction of $134,247.27. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 33,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,245,399.90. This trade represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Theodore James Jr. Washburn sold 8,546 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.87, for a total value of $315,091.02. Following the sale, the insider owned 868 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,003.16. This trade represents a 90.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 16,099 shares of company stock valued at $620,092 over the last quarter. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Agios Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 150.2% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,659 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 996 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 16.7% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 2,237 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Agios Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $79,000.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 13.2%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.67 and a beta of 0.89.

Agios Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AGIO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.78) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.93) by $0.15. Agios Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 895.86% and a negative return on equity of 28.35%. The company had revenue of $12.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.49 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $16.22 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 43.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -6.85 EPS for the current year.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, discovers and develops medicines in the field of cellular metabolism in the United States. Its lead product includes PYRUKYND (mitapivat), an activator of wild-type and mutant pyruvate kinase (PK), enzymes for the treatment of hemolytic anemias.