ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 7,980,000 shares, a drop of 13.5% from the September 15th total of 9,230,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,730,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on ACAD shares. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. UBS Group lowered their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC cut their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 9,733 shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $148,720.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 43,735 shares in the company, valued at approximately $668,270.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $145,679.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 52,177 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $797,264.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 9,733 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $148,720.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 43,735 shares in the company, valued at $668,270.80. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,014 shares of company stock worth $779,494 over the last 90 days. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,479,000. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $5,622,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 246.7% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 84,956 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 60,452 shares during the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 19.8% in the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 2,704,439 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $43,947,000 after purchasing an additional 446,875 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 6.2% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,752 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $642,000 after buying an additional 2,034 shares during the last quarter. 96.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of ACAD opened at $14.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1,492.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.38. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $14.31 and a 52-week high of $32.59. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.32.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $241.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $235.95 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 3.43% and a return on equity of 6.89%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 46.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome.