Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) shares hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $21.76 and last traded at $21.1760, with a volume of 28018 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $20.83.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings began coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “sell (e)” rating for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.80.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $18.04. The company has a market capitalization of $889.54 million and a PE ratio of -0.53.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported ($2.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($1.42).

Insider Buying and Selling at Maplight Therapeutics

In other news, Director George Pavlov purchased 9,920 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $17.86 per share, with a total value of $177,171.20. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $446,500. This represents a 65.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Timothy John Garnett purchased 14,124 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 10th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $17.89 per share, for a total transaction of $252,678.36. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 14,124 shares in the company, valued at approximately $252,678.36. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 39,124 shares of company stock worth $693,846 and sold 74,612 shares worth $1,368,065.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPLT. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $49,168,000. Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $228,000. Vestal Point Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $6,763,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $840,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $952,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Company Profile

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.