Aquestive Therapeutics Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:AQST)

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Traders bought 13,449 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 306% compared to the average daily volume of 3,309 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Peter E. Boyd sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total value of $70,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 268,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,878,261. This trade represents a 3.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Carl N. Kraus sold 20,272 shares of Aquestive Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.00, for a total transaction of $141,904.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,977,325. This trade represents a 6.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 97,847 shares of company stock worth $685,605 in the last ninety days. 8.35% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AQST. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Aquestive Therapeutics by 78.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 9,413 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 4,134 shares during the period. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Modern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown acquired a new stake in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $50,000. 32.45% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Aquestive Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of Aquestive Therapeutics stock traded down $2.43 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $3.78. The company had a trading volume of 17,725,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,387,929. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $6.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.23. Aquestive Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $2.12 and a fifty-two week high of $7.55. The firm has a market cap of $461.54 million, a PE ratio of -5.40 and a beta of 1.66.

Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $12.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.94 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Aquestive Therapeutics will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AQST has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on Aquestive Therapeutics from $9.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Piper Sandler lifted their price target on Aquestive Therapeutics from $5.00 to $8.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Aquestive Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $8.83.

About Aquestive Therapeutics

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel drug delivery systems. Leveraging its proprietary PharmFilm® technology, Aquestive designs thin-film formulations that facilitate sublingual, buccal and oral delivery of small molecules, offering rapid onset of action and improved patient compliance compared with traditional dosage forms.

The company’s lead product, Libervant® (diazepam) Buccal Film, is approved by the U.S.