Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ:SAVA) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ:SAVA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Cassava Sciences in a report on Friday, December 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $2.00.

Cassava Sciences Trading Down 7.7%

Shares of SAVA opened at $2.03 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $2.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $2.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.93 and a beta of -1.00. Cassava Sciences has a twelve month low of $1.15 and a twelve month high of $4.98.

Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ:SAVA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.05. On average, analysts predict that Cassava Sciences will post -3.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Cassava Sciences

In other news, CEO Richard Barry bought 73,385 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $2.75 per share, with a total value of $201,808.75. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 788,060 shares in the company, valued at $2,167,165. This trade represents a 10.27% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 12.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Cassava Sciences in the first quarter valued at approximately $120,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Cassava Sciences by 77.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 496,313 shares of the company’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 217,404 shares during the period. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Cassava Sciences in the 1st quarter valued at $178,000. Ground Swell Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Cassava Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in Cassava Sciences during the 2nd quarter worth $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.05% of the company’s stock.

Cassava Sciences Company Profile

Cassava Sciences, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies and diagnostics for Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, the company was originally founded as Pain Therapeutics in 1998 and rebranded to Cassava Sciences in 2017. Cassava’s research program centers on small molecules designed to address underlying mechanisms of neurodegeneration rather than solely targeting amyloid plaques or tau tangles.

The company’s lead drug candidate, simufilam (formerly PTI-125), is a proprietary small molecule that aims to restore normal shape and function to the scaffolding protein filamin A, which has been implicated in impaired neuronal signaling and inflammation in Alzheimer’s patients.