Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Rating Lowered to “Strong Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) was downgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright dropped their price target on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $45.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Craig Hallum restated a “buy” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, July 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $34.42.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:MPLT opened at $13.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $554.91 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.32. The company has a 50 day moving average of $30.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $24.92. Maplight Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $9.10 and a 52-week high of $40.43.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last posted 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). On average, equities analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.22 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total value of $3,214,809.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,394,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,905,415.86. This represents a 7.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 4,438 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $126,660.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 346,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,876,523.86. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 318,059 shares of company stock valued at $8,910,669. 3.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fcpm Iii Services B.V. acquired a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $56,672,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,168,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,026,000. Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $17,060,000. Finally, 5AM Venture Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,687,000.

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.