Private Advisor Group LLC Acquires 184,800 Shares of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL)

Key Points

• Private Advisor Group LLC significantly increased its stake in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. by 617.5%, acquiring an additional 184,800 shares during the first quarter.
• Invesco Ltd. also boosted its stake by an extraordinary 2,419.8%, now owning 615,048 shares, indicating strong institutional interest in the company.
• Analysts at HC Wainwright and D. Boral Capital issued "buy" ratings with price targets of $42.00 and $46.00, respectively, indicating optimistic forecasts for the stock's future performance.

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL - Free Report) by 617.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 214,725 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 184,800 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC owned 0.25% of Anavex Life Sciences worth $1,842,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Nwam LLC boosted its holdings in Anavex Life Sciences by 9.6% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 1,000,351 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $8,583,000 after acquiring an additional 87,300 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 706,901 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $7,592,000 after acquiring an additional 10,938 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 2,419.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 615,048 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,606,000 after acquiring an additional 590,639 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 164,792 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 1.3% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 223,131 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,914,000 after acquiring an additional 2,882 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 31.55% of the company's stock.

Anavex Life Sciences Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ AVXL traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $11.40. 129,956 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,140,544. The firm has a market cap of $973.36 million, a P/E ratio of -20.75 and a beta of 0.72. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. has a twelve month low of $4.93 and a twelve month high of $14.44. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $9.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $9.12.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.13) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.16) by $0.03. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. will post -0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on AVXL shares. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $42.00 target price on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a report on Monday, April 7th. D. Boral Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

Anavex Life Sciences Company Profile

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.