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

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,240,000 shares, an increase of 7.5% from the October 31st total of 9,530,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.7 days.

Insider Transactions at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $68,467.13. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $333,897.03. The trade was a 17.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were 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 approximately $896,006.62. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 28.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ACAD. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 431.1% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,774,353 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $45,083,000 after buying an additional 2,251,940 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 36.2% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,937,714 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $47,738,000 after purchasing an additional 781,070 shares during the period. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $11,535,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP bought a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $10,550,000. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC bought a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $8,882,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on ACAD. Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 10th. 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. UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ACAD traded down $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $16.30. 1,190,506 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,661,580. The firm has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.30 and a beta of 0.40. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $14.15 and a 12-month high of $32.59. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $16.02.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $248.83 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.40) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.73 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.