Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts have given Catalyst Pharmaceuticals an average rating of "Buy," with a 12-month target price of $33.20, based on the assessments of eight research firms.
• Recently, CEO Richard J. Daly sold 22,970 shares at an average price of $20.62, reducing his stake by 9.20% to 226,794 shares.
• Institutional investors own approximately 79.22% of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, with significant increases in holdings reported by firms like Northern Trust Corp and Bank of America Corp DE.

Shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the eight brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.20.

CPRX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Zacks Research cut shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, September 5th.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $0.28 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $19.97. 1,047,755 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,494,738. The company has a 50 day moving average of $20.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.36. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $19.15 and a fifty-two week high of $26.58. The stock has a market cap of $2.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.85.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David S. Tierney sold 26,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.20, for a total value of $525,200.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 379,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,668,324. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard J. Daly sold 22,970 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.62, for a total transaction of $473,641.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 226,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,676,492.28. The trade was a 9.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 243,970 shares of company stock valued at $4,927,241 in the last 90 days. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,495,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $206,018,000 after acquiring an additional 64,486 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,135,473 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $76,035,000 after acquiring an additional 333,100 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,866,683 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $62,214,000 after acquiring an additional 101,127 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 30.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,365,675 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $51,335,000 after acquiring an additional 554,200 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 233.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,757,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $38,148,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,419 shares during the period. 79.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients.