ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Short Interest Update

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

Insider Buying and Selling at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $68,467.13. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $333,897.03. The trade was a 17.02 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, COO Brendan Teehan sold 10,329 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was 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 directly owns 62,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,043,985.05. The trade was a 14.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551 in the last quarter. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 380.3% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 2,483,731 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $45,576,000 after buying an additional 1,966,607 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,269,000 after acquiring an additional 154,854 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $483,000. Burney Co. acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth $6,953,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 259.0% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 223,618 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $3,439,000 after purchasing an additional 161,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

ACAD opened at $18.66 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.92 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.64. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $14.15 and a twelve month high of $26.83.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.83 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.25.

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.