ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,530,000 shares, a growth of 16.5% from the October 15th total of 8,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,360,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.0 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 9,534 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total value of $145,679.52. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 52,177 shares in the company, valued at approximately $797,264.56. This represents a 15.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen Davis sold 31,747 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $15.28, for a total transaction of $485,094.16. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 186,555 shares in the company, valued at $2,850,560.40. The trade was a 14.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 51,014 shares of company stock valued at $779,494 over the last quarter. Insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $44,234,000 after buying an additional 30,826 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $4,269,000 after purchasing an additional 154,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $91,878,000 after acquiring an additional 173,084 shares during the period. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $11,535,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $3,802,000. Institutional investors own 96.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group lowered their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $37.00 to $28.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ACAD traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $16.77. 1,826,798 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,681,694. The company has a market cap of $2.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.50 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $15.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $16.01. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $14.15 and a fifty-two week high of $32.59.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.40) EPS. On average, research analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company 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.