Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZVRA) Given Average Recommendation of “Buy” by Brokerages

Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ZVRA) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the nine brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $22.29.

ZVRA has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Zevra Therapeutics from $20.00 to $22.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 13th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $20.00 target price on shares of Zevra Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Zevra Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. JMP Securities set a $18.00 price objective on Zevra Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Zevra Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th.

Zevra Therapeutics Trading Down 4.6 %

Shares of Zevra Therapeutics stock opened at $7.97 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $7.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $8.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $431.30 million, a PE ratio of -4.05 and a beta of 1.98. Zevra Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $4.20 and a 1-year high of $9.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.88 and a quick ratio of 2.88.

Zevra Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ZVRA) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 11th. The company reported ($0.67) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.39) by ($0.28). Zevra Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 342.63% and a negative return on equity of 159.54%. The company had revenue of $12.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.93 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Zevra Therapeutics will post -1.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO R. Laduane Clifton sold 11,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.86, for a total transaction of $86,460.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 51,361 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $403,697.46. This represents a 17.64 % 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, CEO Neil F. Mcfarlane sold 61,273 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.86, for a total value of $481,605.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 222,060 shares in the company, valued at $1,745,391.60. This trade represents a 21.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 85,773 shares of company stock worth $674,176. Corporate insiders own 2.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Zevra Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ZVRA. Simplify Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Zevra Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $833,000. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Zevra Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $95,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Zevra Therapeutics by 10.0% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 121,356 shares of the company’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 11,038 shares during the period. Valence8 US LP purchased a new stake in Zevra Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $150,000. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in Zevra Therapeutics by 282,687.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,313,202 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,054,000 after buying an additional 2,312,384 shares during the period. 35.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Zevra Therapeutics Company Profile

Zevra Therapeutics, Inc discovers and develops various proprietary prodrugs to treat serious medical conditions in the United States. The company develops its products through Ligand Activated Therapy platform. Its lead product candidate is KP1077, consisting of KP1077IH, which is under Phase 2 clinical trial for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia, and KP1077N, which is under Phase ½ clinical trial to treat narcolepsy.