Sanofi Takes Position in Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. $MPLT

Sanofi acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 912,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,020,000. Maplight Therapeutics comprises 5.2% of Sanofi’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Sanofi owned about 2.01% of Maplight Therapeutics as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MPLT. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,026,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $6,835,000. Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,745,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,756,000. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $649,000.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 24,052 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $691,735.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 350,497 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,080,293.72. This represents a 6.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,394,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,905,415.86. The trade was a 7.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 valued at $14,079,461 in the last ninety days. 3.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target for the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.78.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of MPLT stock opened at $28.01 on Friday. Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $12.24 and a one year high of $33.28. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $20.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.68.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, equities analysts forecast that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.