ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Short Interest Up 14.5% in December

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,720,000 shares, an increase of 14.5% from the December 15th total of 9,360,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of ACAD opened at $17.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.53 and a beta of 0.37. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $14.15 and a 52-week high of $29.29.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.40) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on ACAD shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 10,329 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $173,630.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 62,105 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,985.05. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,006.62. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC boosted 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 purchasing an additional 154,854 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at about $483,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 19.8% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 2,704,439 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $43,947,000 after buying an additional 446,875 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $6,953,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 259.0% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 223,618 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,439,000 after buying an additional 161,331 shares in the last quarter. 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.