Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Shares in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 114,766 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,106,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ACAD. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 12,519 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 795 shares during the last quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 1,875 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 67.0% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,093 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 73,048 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,340,000 after purchasing an additional 2,669 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ACAD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft assumed coverage on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $22.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.70.

Insider Transactions at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Elizabeth A. Garofalo sold 4,919 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.23, for a total value of $89,673.37. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 17,595 shares in the company, valued at $320,756.85. The trade was a 21.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Schneyer sold 2,708 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $14.82, for a total transaction of $40,132.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 59,456 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $881,137.92. The trade was a 4.36% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 18,994 shares of company stock worth $313,131 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ACAD stock opened at $17.20 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $15.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.00. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a one year low of $13.40 and a one year high of $20.68. The stock has a market cap of $2.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05 and a beta of 0.47.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.10 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $244.32 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $239.32 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 18.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals 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.