ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,530,000 shares, an increase of 16.5% from the October 15th total of 8,180,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.0 days.

Insider Activity at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $145,679.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 52,177 shares in the company, valued at $797,264.56. The trade was a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 31,747 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 $485,094.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 186,555 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,850,560.40. The trade was a 14.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 51,014 shares of company stock worth $779,494. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 154,854 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP purchased a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $11,535,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $3,802,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 141.1% in the third quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 219,329 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,373,000 after purchasing an additional 128,372 shares in the last quarter. 96.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $16.77 on Friday. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $14.15 and a 12-month high of $32.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $16.01.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last announced its 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. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.83% and a net margin of 13.83%. The business had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $248.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.40) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on ACAD shares. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley downgraded ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.56.

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.