Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Sunday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on CPRX. Zacks Research downgraded Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Catalyst Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $33.20.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.2%

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $20.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.79. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $19.05 and a 52 week high of $26.58. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $20.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.00.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The company had revenue of $53.11 million for the quarter. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 40.78% and a net margin of 37.36%. Equities analysts expect that Catalyst Pharmaceuticals will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, October 1st that allows the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the biopharmaceutical company to buy up to 8.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Catalyst Pharmaceuticals news, Director David S. Tierney sold 26,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.20, for a total transaction of $525,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 379,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,668,324. This trade represents a 6.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard J. Daly sold 22,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.62, for a total value of $473,641.40. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 226,794 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,676,492.28. This trade represents a 9.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 243,970 shares of company stock worth $4,927,241 in the last three months. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 233.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,757,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,148,000 after buying an additional 1,231,419 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $17,185,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 963.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 724,091 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $17,559,000 after buying an additional 656,004 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at $14,941,000. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 397.8% in the first quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 694,125 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $16,833,000 after buying an additional 554,674 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.22% of the company’s stock.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.