ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Short Interest Up 5.4% in March

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,200,000 shares, an increase of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 10,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ACAD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird initiated coverage on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $40.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $35.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total transaction of $48,534.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $513,619.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 2,716 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total transaction of $48,534.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 28,742 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $513,619.54. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 26,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total transaction of $474,877.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 144,267 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,578,051.29. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 69,383 shares of company stock valued at $1,291,362. 27.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empire Life Investments Inc. lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Empire Life Investments Inc. now owns 174,815 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $5,473,000 after purchasing an additional 467 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 115,494 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,407,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares during the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 19,880 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 622 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 31,633 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $990,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 50,405 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,578,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the last quarter. 96.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6 %

ACAD stock opened at $17.19 on Thursday. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $16.60 and a twelve month high of $33.99. The company has a market capitalization of $2.83 billion, a P/E ratio of -45.24 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.80.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by ($0.04). ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 15.67% and a negative net margin of 8.44%. The company had revenue of $231.04 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $223.79 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.26) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 69.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

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.