Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 52,340 Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 129,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after acquiring an additional 52,340 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals worth $1,992,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 70.5% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 2,032 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 840 shares in the last quarter. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $81,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACAD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com lowered ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price target 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 assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 1.2 %

ACAD opened at $16.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.04 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $15.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $15.99. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a twelve month low of $14.15 and a twelve month high of $32.59.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.40) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 10,329 shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,006.62. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551. 28.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals 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.