BNP Paribas Financial Markets Purchases 448,436 Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stake by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 448,436 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 2.54 million shares worth about $19.8 million.
• Institutional ownership of BioCryst is high, with 85.88% of shares held by institutional investors, while several other funds also added to their positions recently.
• BioCryst reported a wider-than-expected quarterly loss of $2.98 per share despite revenue of $156.41 million beating estimates, and analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target price of $20.70.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 21.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,542,714 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 448,436 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 1.21% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $19,833,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,463 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $476,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 22,105 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Counterweight Ventures LLC boosted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC now owns 95,384 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,231 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legato Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 23,949 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $187,000 after acquiring an additional 2,172 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on BCRX. Evercore began coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $17.00 price objective for the company. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Citizens Jmp increased their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BioCryst Pharmaceuticals news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.15, for a total transaction of $1,372,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 400,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,666,432.45. This trade represents a 27.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.7%

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $8.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a PE ratio of -4.72 and a beta of 0.57. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.00 and a 12-month high of $11.23.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($3.04). BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 51.71% and a negative return on equity of 76.36%. The company had revenue of $156.41 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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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