Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL) Shares Up 7.4% - Still a Buy?

Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC. (NASDAQ:AVDL - Get Free Report) shares traded up 7.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.70 and last traded at $9.71. 418,838 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 66% from the average session volume of 1,226,976 shares. The stock had previously closed at $9.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $19.00 target price on shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $18.17.

Avadel Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $930.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -35.61 and a beta of 1.42. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $9.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.69.

Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.07) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $52.51 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $50.57 million. Avadel Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 13.58% and a negative return on equity of 36.07%. Avadel Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 93.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.30) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC. will post -0.51 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of AVDL. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 52,142 shares of the company's stock worth $548,000 after purchasing an additional 1,177 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 52,594 shares of the company's stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 1,882 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 222,798 shares of the company's stock worth $2,342,000 after purchasing an additional 2,434 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 127,027 shares of the company's stock worth $995,000 after purchasing an additional 2,890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 25,079 shares of the company's stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,938 shares in the last quarter. 69.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avadel Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc operates as a biopharmaceutical company in the United States. Its lead product candidate is LUMRYZ, a formulation of sodium oxybate, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness or cataplexy in adults with narcolepsy. The company was formerly known as Flamel Technologies SA and changed its name to Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc in January 2017.