Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $28.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 77.33% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. UBS Group cut their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $15.79 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $15.41 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $15.96. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $14.15 and a fifty-two week high of $32.59. The company has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a PE ratio of 87.72 and a beta of 0.38.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $241.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $235.95 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 6.89% and a net margin of 3.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 46.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. Analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 9,733 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $148,720.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 43,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $668,270.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Stephen Davis sold 31,747 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $485,094.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,560.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 9,733 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $148,720.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 43,735 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $668,270.80. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 51,014 shares of company stock valued at $779,494. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ACAD. Arizona State Retirement System raised its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 29,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,770 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 210,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,894,000 after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 70.5% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,032 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,066 shares during the period. 96.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome.