Vanguard Group Inc. Decreases Position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,396,009 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 220,731 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 8.13% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals worth $419,429,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. RTW Investments LP increased its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 18.3% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 11,576,537 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $241,255,000 after acquiring an additional 1,793,288 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 38.7% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,108,883 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $64,789,000 after acquiring an additional 867,818 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,777,307 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $55,647,000 after acquiring an additional 148,526 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,187,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,220,677 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $25,439,000 after acquiring an additional 57,555 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on ACAD shares. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $31.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $37.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $26.00 to $21.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 9th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Stephen Davis sold 26,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total transaction of $474,877.38. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 144,267 shares in the company, valued at $2,578,051.29. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Stephen Davis sold 26,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total transaction of $474,877.38. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 144,267 shares in the company, valued at $2,578,051.29. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Brendan Teehan sold 3,477 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.94, for a total transaction of $58,900.38. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 42,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $713,733.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,356 shares of company stock worth $949,987 over the last 90 days. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of ACAD opened at $15.50 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.56 billion, a PE ratio of -1,548.45 and a beta of 0.40. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $14.55 and a fifty-two week high of $33.99. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.42.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.06. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 0.21% and a negative return on equity of 0.41%. The firm had revenue of $205.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $208.31 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.27) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 73.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.58 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.