BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX Shares Bought by VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al

Key Points

• Institutional buying increased: Virginia Retirement Systems ET Al boosted its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stake by 106.5% in the fourth quarter, while several other funds also added shares. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds own about 85.88% of the company.
• Analysts remain cautiously bullish: Recent ratings were mostly positive, with several firms maintaining or raising targets despite some cuts. The stock now carries a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average price target of $20.70.
• Shares fell after weak earnings: BioCryst traded down 5.7% to $9.02 after reporting a quarterly EPS loss of $2.98, far below the $0.06 estimate, even though revenue of $156.41 million slightly topped expectations and rose 7.5% year over year.

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al raised its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 106.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 233,354 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 120,350 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al owned about 0.11% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $1,820,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 252,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,966,000 after buying an additional 42,000 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 36.1% in the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 58,571 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 15,544 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,273,375 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $173,732,000 after buying an additional 482,494 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 26.1% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,231 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $80,000 after buying an additional 2,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Phocas Financial Corp. bought a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,956,000. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on BCRX. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Citizens Jmp upped their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings raised BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore started coverage on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $20.70.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 5.7%

NASDAQ:BCRX opened at $9.02 on Friday. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.00 and a 52 week high of $11.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a PE ratio of -5.07 and a beta of 0.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $9.16 and a 200-day moving average of $7.91.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($3.04). BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 76.36% and a negative net margin of 51.71%.The business had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.12 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.15, for a total value of $1,372,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 400,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,666,432.45. This represents a 27.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small‐molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure‐based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company's first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.

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