Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Truist Financial raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $30.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals traded as high as $18.99 and last traded at $18.68, with a volume of 626485 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $18.30.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CPRX. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com upgraded Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $26.00 price target on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $28.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Richard J. Daly sold 17,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.97, for a total transaction of $276,648.31. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 234,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,750,139.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard J. Daly sold 17,323 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.97, for a total transaction of $276,648.31. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 234,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,750,139.28. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Carmen Jeffrey Del sold 7,541 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.07, for a total transaction of $121,183.87. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,427 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $296,121.89. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 110,197 shares of company stock worth $1,777,560 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 139.5% during the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,726,388 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $43,445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587,794 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 965.2% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,541,660 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,610,000 after purchasing an additional 1,396,930 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,980,661 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $127,212,000 after purchasing an additional 860,244 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Institutional Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $11,463,000. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 101.1% during the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 1,061,704 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $16,924,000 after purchasing an additional 533,802 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.22% of the company’s stock.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.9 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $16.09 and a 200 day moving average of $15.57. The stock has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 33.89 and a beta of 0.70.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.08% and a net margin of 15.83%. The company had revenue of $98.51 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.24 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 1.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients.