ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Short Interest Up 5.4% in March

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,200,000 shares, a growth of 5.4% from the March 15th total of 10,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,830,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.1 days.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ACAD opened at $17.19 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $23.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -45.24 and a beta of 0.37. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $16.60 and a fifty-two week high of $33.99.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.32 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $231.04 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $223.79 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 8.44% and a negative return on equity of 15.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 69.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.26) EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.63 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ACAD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. TheStreet raised shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “d” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 27th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 28th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $42.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $37.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $35.82.

Insider Activity at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider James Kihara sold 1,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total value of $31,987.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,097. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider James Kihara sold 1,790 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.87, for a total value of $31,987.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 13,100 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $234,097. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 5,577 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.67, for a total transaction of $137,584.59. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 101,890 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,513,626.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 69,383 shares of company stock valued at $1,291,362. 27.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ACAD. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,110,000. RTW Investments LP raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 18.3% during the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 11,576,537 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $241,255,000 after purchasing an additional 1,793,288 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 30.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 6,593,950 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $92,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,536,756 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $17,765,000. Finally, Man Group plc raised its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 4,022.0% during the fourth quarter. Man Group plc now owns 955,688 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $15,215,000 after purchasing an additional 932,503 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

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.