Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) Lowered to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Anavex Life Sciences has been downgraded from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen.
• Despite the downgrade, other brokerages like HC Wainwright and D. Boral Capital maintained "buy" ratings with target prices of $42.00 and $46.00 respectively.
• The company reported a quarterly loss with an EPS of ($0.16), falling short of the consensus estimate by $0.03.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report issued on Saturday.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on AVXL. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research report on Friday. D. Boral Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Anavex Life Sciences has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $44.00.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AVXL opened at $9.53 on Friday. Anavex Life Sciences has a 52-week low of $4.93 and a 52-week high of $14.44. The company has a market capitalization of $818.53 million, a P/E ratio of -16.72 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $10.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.22.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.16) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by ($0.03). As a group, equities analysts forecast that Anavex Life Sciences will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 617.5% during the first quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 214,725 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,842,000 after buying an additional 184,800 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences during the first quarter worth $208,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 197.7% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 248,139 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,129,000 after buying an additional 164,792 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences during the first quarter worth $194,000. Finally, PVG Asset Management Corp grew its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 503.5% during the fourth quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp now owns 78,490 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $843,000 after buying an additional 65,485 shares during the last quarter. 31.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as other central nervous system diseases, including rare diseases, such as Rett syndrome, a rare severe neurological monogenic disorder; and infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.

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