BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Stock Price Down 5.8% – What’s Next?

Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) fell 5.8% on Friday . The company traded as low as $6.69 and last traded at $6.7550. 1,878,043 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 62% from the average session volume of 4,889,599 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.17.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BCRX has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Barclays reduced their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $11.00 to $9.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI reiterated an “in-line” rating and issued a $8.00 target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.50.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $7.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.76. The company has a market capitalization of $1.41 billion, a PE ratio of -133.70, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.80.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.01). BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 1.46% and a negative return on equity of 4.24%. The company had revenue of $159.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.91 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.07) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 91,004 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.10, for a total transaction of $646,128.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 416,152 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,954,679.20. The trade was a 17.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 183,453 shares of company stock worth $1,330,965 in the last three months. Insiders own 5.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BCRX. Deerfield Management Company L.P. increased its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 12,169,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $92,363,000 after acquiring an additional 7,477,000 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2,103.7% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,278,555 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,336,000 after purchasing an additional 4,084,403 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 25,631.2% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 3,620,637 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $32,441,000 after purchasing an additional 3,606,566 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 152.3% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,373,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,266,000 after buying an additional 1,432,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,841,155 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,457,000 after acquiring an additional 1,405,498 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small‐molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure‐based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company’s first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.