Natixis Advisors LLC Increases Stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 33.8%, owning a total of 62,895 shares worth approximately $1,045,000 after additional purchases in the first quarter.
• Other institutional investors, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Renaissance Technologies LLC, significantly boosted their holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, indicating strong investor interest, with hedge funds now controlling 96.71% of the company's stock.
• ACADIA Pharmaceuticals reported a quarterly revenue of $264.57 million, surpassing analyst expectations, and achieved earnings per share of $0.16, slightly exceeding estimates of $0.14.

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD - Free Report) by 33.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 62,895 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after buying an additional 15,888 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,045,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in ACAD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 61.7% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 713,360 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $13,090,000 after purchasing an additional 272,236 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 202,349 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,713,000 after purchasing an additional 14,447 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 43.2% during the fourth quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 20,459 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 6,173 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth approximately $211,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 204.2% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,226,533 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $22,507,000 after purchasing an additional 823,333 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.71% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Mark C. Schneyer sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $50,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 62,130 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,553,250. This represents a 3.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura Brege sold 14,446 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.78, for a total value of $314,633.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,095 shares in the company, valued at $328,769.10. This represents a 48.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,446 shares of company stock valued at $454,634 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group set a $36.00 target price on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Morgan Stanley set a $24.00 price objective on ACADIA Pharmaceuticals and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 20th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded ACADIA Pharmaceuticals to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.88.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.8%

NASDAQ:ACAD opened at $24.60 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 7.00 and a beta of 0.70. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $22.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.27. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a 12-month low of $13.40 and a 12-month high of $25.23.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 14.69% and a net margin of 21.80%. The business had revenue of $264.57 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.07 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 9.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome.

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