Needham & Company LLC Issues Positive Forecast for Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Stock Price

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) had its price target boosted by Needham & Company LLC from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on MPLT. Lifesci Capital raised Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Craig Hallum lowered their price target on Maplight Therapeutics from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.10.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:MPLT traded down $0.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.32. 1,183,971 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 484,862. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion and a PE ratio of -0.96. Maplight Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $12.24 and a fifty-two week high of $40.43. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.71.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, analysts forecast that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Vishwas Setia sold 10,564 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total value of $298,327.36. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 356,256 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,060,669.44. This represents a 2.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,394,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,905,415.86. The trade was a 7.82% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461 in the last quarter. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at about $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $205,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Company Profile

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.