Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD)

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors purchased 3,703 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 308% compared to the average volume of 908 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, Director Elizabeth A. Garofalo sold 4,919 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total transaction of $89,673.37. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $320,756.85. This represents a 21.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 6,167 shares of company stock worth $114,583. 28.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,947,640 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $255,939,000 after buying an additional 104,444 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $91,878,000 after buying an additional 173,084 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 17.8% during the third quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 3,186,389 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $49,007,000 after buying an additional 481,950 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,234,000 after purchasing an additional 30,826 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,700,125 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $49,547,000 after purchasing an additional 574,251 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on ACAD shares. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 27th. 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft began coverage on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $24.00.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.7 %

ACAD stock opened at $17.20 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $18.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $16.99. The stock has a market cap of $2.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 0.43. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $14.15 and a 52-week high of $20.68.

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.