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

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) fell 4.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $16.25 and last traded at $16.34. 277,947 shares were traded during 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 ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $172,453.79. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares in the company, valued at approximately $896,006.62. This trade represents a 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total transaction of $68,467.13. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $333,897.03. This represents a 17.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, COO Brendan Teehan sold 10,329 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $173,630.49. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 62,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on ACAD. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $29.00 to $26.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. StockNews.com cut ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.56.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $15.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.99. The company has a market cap of $2.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ACAD. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,234,000 after buying an additional 30,826 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $91,878,000 after acquiring an additional 173,084 shares during the last quarter. Iron Triangle Partners LP bought a new position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $11,535,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,802,000. 96.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.