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

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at $797,264.56. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 31,747 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $485,094.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,555 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,560.40. This represents a 14.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,014 shares of company stock valued at $779,494 in the last three months. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 210,604 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,894,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 34,752 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $642,000 after purchasing an additional 2,034 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth about $48,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 20,689 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $383,000 after purchasing an additional 2,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 33,583 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $621,000 after purchasing an additional 3,048 shares during the last quarter. 96.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ACAD shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Citigroup lowered their price target on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ACAD opened at $16.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.79 billion, a PE ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $15.56 and its 200-day moving average is $16.01. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $14.15 and a 1-year high of $32.59.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last issued 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 net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. The business had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.72 EPS for the current 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.