Janus Henderson Group PLC Grows Stock Position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• Janus Henderson increased its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stake by 20.3% in the first quarter, acquiring 1.5 million additional shares and bringing its ownership to 3.51%. Institutional investors collectively own 85.88% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with eight Buy ratings and four Holds producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $20.80, well above the stock’s recent $8.98 price.
• BioCryst’s quarterly revenue rose 7.5% year over year to $156.4 million, exceeding estimates, but the company reported a significantly worse-than-expected loss of $2.98 per share and continues to post negative profitability metrics.

Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 20.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,908,506 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,504,120 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned 3.51% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $84,854,000 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. RA Capital Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $123,452,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% in the 3rd quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 12,169,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $92,363,000 after purchasing an additional 7,477,000 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC bought a new position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $24,668,000. RFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $27,329,000. Finally, Baker BROS. Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $22,017,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, July 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $12.00 price target for the company. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wedbush decreased their price target on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and set a $32.00 price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 1st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.80.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.8%

BCRX stock opened at $8.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.04 and a beta of 0.55. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.00 and a 12 month high of $11.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $9.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $8.63.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 76.36% and a negative net margin of 51.71%.The company had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals 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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