Insider Selling: Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) CEO Sells $435,365.16 in Stock

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) CEO Christopher Kroeger sold 15,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total transaction of $435,365.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,614,993 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,155,204.28. This trade represents a 0.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

MPLT stock opened at $27.40 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.83. Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $12.24 and a 12 month high of $33.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.17 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.69.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported ($2.47) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($1.42). Analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. HC Wainwright assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “sell (e)” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 target price on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Maplight Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.43.

Key Maplight Therapeutics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Maplight Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MapLight Therapeutics announced that management will participate in upcoming investor conferences, which can help keep the company visible to potential investors and may provide a near-term catalyst. MapLight Therapeutics to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a Buy rating on MPLT, reinforcing Wall Street support for the stock and helping offset some of the recent negative sentiment. Needham Reaffirms Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst coverage elsewhere in the tape remained constructive, including Buy ratings and higher price targets, which supports the longer-term bullish case for MapLight Therapeutics. Analyst coverage summary
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings history remains mixed, with a prior quarterly loss wider than expected; this is still part of the backdrop but not the main driver of today’s move. MPLT earnings summary
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders, including CEO Christopher Kroeger, CFO Vishwas Setia, and insiders James Woodruff Lillie and Erin Pennock Foff, sold shares over May 4–6. Although the sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, the cluster of transactions can weigh on sentiment and suggest near-term selling pressure. CEO Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: The repeated insider sales may be contributing to the stock’s decline today, as investors often view sustained insider selling as a cautionary signal even when it is pre-planned. Insider sale filing

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Strs Ohio purchased a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000.

About Maplight Therapeutics

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.