BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Shares Up 3.3% – Should You Buy?

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) shares rose 3.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $8.15 and last traded at $8.2150. 393,314 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 4,863,441 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.95.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCRX has been the subject of several research reports. Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $21.00 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Wall Street Zen downgraded BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $16.00 price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, September 8th. Weiss Ratings cut BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $13.00 to $11.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.50.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.20. The company has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of -5.53 and a beta of 0.55.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $218.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $183.28 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 86.89% and a negative net margin of 40.90%.The company’s revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BCRX. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 52,326 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $498,000 after buying an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 15,740 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 2,680 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S bought a new stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 40.2% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 10,254 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $103,000 after acquiring an additional 2,942 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2,515.3% during the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 3,119 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biotechnology company that discovers, develops and commercializes oral medicines for rare diseases. The company focuses on small-molecule therapies designed to address diseases with significant unmet medical needs, including hereditary angioedema and complement-mediated disorders.

BioCryst’s primary commercial product is Orladeyo (berotralstat), an oral plasma kallikrein inhibitor used to prevent attacks of hereditary angioedema in adults and pediatric patients.