ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.66, but opened at $18.25. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $18.39, with a volume of 386,029 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a report on Friday. StockNews.com cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.25.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.06 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.41.

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

Insider Transactions at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,006.62. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,661 shares of company stock valued at $414,551 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ACAD. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 67.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 129,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 52,340 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,234,000 after purchasing an additional 30,826 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,269,000 after purchasing an additional 154,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $91,878,000 after purchasing an additional 173,084 shares during the period. Finally, Iron Triangle Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $11,535,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.