Renaissance Technologies LLC Has $850,000 Stock Position in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. $AVXL

Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) by 988.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 276,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 251,378 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in Anavex Life Sciences were worth $850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in AVXL. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Anavex Life Sciences by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,383,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,605,000 after acquiring an additional 1,096,288 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 17,921.5% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 744,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,650,000 after acquiring an additional 740,338 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 187.7% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 872,968 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,108,000 after acquiring an additional 569,579 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 103.3% in the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 903,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,216,000 after acquiring an additional 459,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences in the fourth quarter worth about $1,310,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 31.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on AVXL. Weiss Ratings cut Anavex Life Sciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Rodman & Renshaw initiated coverage on Anavex Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, May 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 target price for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $21.33.

Anavex Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of Anavex Life Sciences stock opened at $3.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $298.49 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.26 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $2.71 and its 200-day moving average is $3.33. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. has a one year low of $2.26 and a one year high of $10.40.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.01. On average, equities analysts expect that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. will post -0.33 EPS for the current year.

Anavex Life Sciences Profile

Anavex Life Sciences Corp is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company applies a proprietary drug discovery platform that targets sigma?1 and muscarinic receptors to modulate cellular stress pathways and support neuronal function. Headquartered in New York City, Anavex is dedicated to advancing treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead product candidate, blarcamesine (ANAVEX2?73), is a small?molecule activator of the sigma?1 receptor currently being evaluated in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia.