Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.07 EPS

Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.14) by $0.07, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $14.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.90 million.

Aquestive Therapeutics Price Performance

Aquestive Therapeutics stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $4.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,426,421 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,584,202. The stock has a market cap of $513.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.29 and a beta of 1.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $4.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.82. Aquestive Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $2.14 and a 12 month high of $7.55.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AQST shares. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Aquestive Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. Lake Street Capital set a $6.00 price target on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, April 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $8.00 price target for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Aquestive Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $8.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Aquestive Therapeutics news, SVP Melina Cioffi sold 25,311 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $4.17, for a total value of $105,546.87. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 274,867 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,146,195.39. The trade was a 8.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Lori J. Braender sold 40,102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.17, for a total transaction of $167,225.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 442,879 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,846,805.43. This represents a 8.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 395,690 shares of company stock valued at $1,650,027 over the last three months. 6.81% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Aquestive Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 30.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,662,132 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,651,000 after acquiring an additional 1,333,627 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 53.7% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,462,778 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,910,000 after acquiring an additional 860,562 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,368,092 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,301,000 after acquiring an additional 280,144 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 159.4% in the fourth quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,032,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,132,000 after acquiring an additional 1,249,044 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 19.1% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,535,369 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,918,000 after acquiring an additional 246,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.45% of the company’s stock.

About Aquestive Therapeutics

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel drug delivery systems. Leveraging its proprietary PharmFilm® technology, Aquestive designs thin-film formulations that facilitate sublingual, buccal and oral delivery of small molecules, offering rapid onset of action and improved patient compliance compared with traditional dosage forms.

The company’s lead product, Libervant® (diazepam) Buccal Film, is approved by the U.S.