ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Short Interest Up 14.5% in December

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,720,000 shares, a growth of 14.5% from the December 15th total of 9,360,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $25.25.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.07 on Friday, reaching $17.59. 963,642 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,337,453. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $14.15 and a twelve month high of $29.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $17.23 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.37.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. The business had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $248.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.40) EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $68,467.13. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares in the company, valued at $333,897.03. This trade represents a 17.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $172,453.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,302 shares of the company's stock, valued at $896,006.62. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 3,520 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 1,047 shares during the period. Stonepine Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $81,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 21.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 5,999 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 1,066 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company's stock.

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.