ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) Trading Down 4.1% on Insider Selling

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) fell 4.1% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $16.25 and last traded at $16.34. 277,947 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 1,676,110 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.03.

Specifically, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 53,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,006.62. This represents a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $68,467.13. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares in the company, valued at $333,897.03. This trade represents a 17.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other ACADIA Pharmaceuticals news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 10,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $173,630.49. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 62,105 shares in the company, valued at $1,043,985.05. This represents a 14.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on ACAD shares. Morgan Stanley cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $28.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 10th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $27.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their target price on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.86 and a beta of 0.38.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $250.40 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 13.83% and a return on equity of 25.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.40) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $44,234,000 after buying an additional 30,826 shares during the period. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $4,269,000 after acquiring an additional 154,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $91,878,000 after purchasing an additional 173,084 shares during the period. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth $11,535,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $3,802,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.71% of the company’s stock.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company 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.