BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NASDAQ:BCRX)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 22,921 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 499% compared to the average volume of 3,829 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on BCRX shares. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.70.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCRX. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 1,188.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,542 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 3,267 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $77,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. bought a new position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $98,000. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. bought a new position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $81,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:BCRX traded up $0.35 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $9.66. 2,323,456 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,984,560. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $6.00 and a one year high of $10.32. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $8.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.21. The company has a market cap of $2.46 billion, a PE ratio of -5.40 and a beta of 0.57.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($3.04). BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 76.36% and a negative net margin of 51.71%.The business had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $151.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.20 EPS. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals will post -2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.