Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $37.78 and last traded at $37.6130, with a volume of 110012 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $37.06.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MPLT has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on Maplight Therapeutics from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Canaccord Genuity Group initiated coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Maplight Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.10.

Maplight Therapeutics Trading Down 4.0%

The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.53 and a 200-day moving average of $23.60. The company has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.93.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, equities research analysts expect that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 24,052 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $691,735.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 350,497 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,080,293.72. This trade represents a 6.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $713,564.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 243,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,001,622. The trade was a 9.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Maplight Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of MPLT. Sanofi acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth $16,020,000. 5AM Venture Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $16,687,000. Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $17,060,000. Baker BROS. Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $6,406,000. Finally, Seven Grand Managers LLC acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $1,756,000.

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.