BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Shares Up 6% – Should You Buy?

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX)’s stock price rose 6% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $10.59 and last traded at $10.4350. 1,106,497 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 4,964,359 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on BCRX shares. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. initiated coverage on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, July 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $12.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Wedbush decreased their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $20.60.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a fifty day moving average of $9.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.06 and a beta of 0.55.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.15. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 86.89% and a negative net margin of 40.90%.The company had revenue of $218.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.28 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.15 EPS. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of BCRX. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,463 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 22,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% during the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 23,949 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $187,000 after buying an additional 2,172 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small‐molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure‐based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company’s first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.