Fisher Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• Fisher Asset Management cut its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stake by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 165,129 shares and leaving it with 2.47 million shares worth about $19.25 million.
• Several other large institutional investors increased their positions, including Vanguard and Deerfield Management, and hedge funds and other institutions now own about 85.88% of the stock.
• BioCryst’s latest earnings disappointed, with a quarterly EPS loss of $2.98 versus a $0.06 estimate, even though revenue topped expectations and analysts still hold a Moderate Buy consensus with a $20.70 target price.

Fisher Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,467,567 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 165,129 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 1.17% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $19,247,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BCRX. Deerfield Management Company L.P. boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% during the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 12,169,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $92,363,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477,000 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 152.3% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 2,373,489 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $21,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,432,824 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 97.9% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,841,155 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,457,000 after purchasing an additional 1,405,498 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 1,059.7% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,456,857 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $13,053,000 after purchasing an additional 1,331,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,790,881 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $165,393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,633 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of the 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 directly owned 400,703 shares in the company, valued at $3,666,432.45. This represents a 27.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCRX has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citizens Jmp boosted their target price 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. Evercore initiated coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC decreased their target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $20.70.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 7.7%

Shares of BCRX stock opened at $9.12 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $9.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $7.99. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.00 and a twelve month high of $11.31. The company has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.12 and a beta of 0.57.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

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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