ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume - Here's Why

Shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) saw unusually-high trading volume on Thursday . Approximately 2,924,825 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 71% from the previous session's volume of 1,707,898 shares.The stock last traded at $19.08 and had previously closed at $18.35.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on ACAD. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $27.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $25.60.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.37.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. The company had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.40) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.73 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares in the company, valued at $896,006.62. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $333,897.03. This trade represents a 17.02 % 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 in the last 90 days. 28.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACAD. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 67.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 129,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,992,000 after acquiring an additional 52,340 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $44,234,000 after purchasing an additional 30,826 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $4,269,000 after purchasing an additional 154,854 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $91,878,000 after purchasing an additional 173,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Triangle Partners LP purchased a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $11,535,000. 96.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.