ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Guggenheim

Guggenheim lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Guggenheim currently has $20.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $23.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.25.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ACAD opened at $18.41 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $16.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $16.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60 and a beta of 0.40. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $14.15 and a 1 year high of $31.10.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.83% and a net margin of 13.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $68,467.13. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $333,897.03. This represents a 17.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $172,453.79. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares in the company, valued at $896,006.62. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551 in the last three months. 28.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACAD. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 29,983 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $487,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 14,770 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $240,000 after buying an additional 778 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,520 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Finally, Park Place Capital Corp purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. 96.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.