Phocas Financial Corp. Takes Position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake of 250,797 shares of BioCryst (~$1.96M), representing about 0.12% of the company at the end of the quarter.
• Insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares at an average price of $9.15 on March 16, reducing her position by 27.24%; insiders now own 5.10% of the stock.
• BioCryst beat expectations with Q EPS of $1.12 vs. $0.07 consensus and revenue of $163.28M (up 209% YoY); the stock has a $2.37B market cap, a PE of 7.87, and an average analyst target of $19.64 (Moderate Buy).

Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 250,797 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,956,000. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.12% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BCRX. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings 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 valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 6.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 135,314 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,019,000 after purchasing an additional 8,517 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 49.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,931,934 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,490,000 after purchasing an additional 640,704 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $314,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 11.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 448,466 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,363,000 after buying an additional 47,355 shares during the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 5.10% of the company's stock.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ BCRX opened at $9.44 on Thursday. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $6.00 and a twelve month high of $11.31. The stock has a market cap of $2.37 billion, a PE ratio of 7.87 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.63.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $1.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $1.05. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 84.33% and a net margin of 30.16%.The firm had revenue of $163.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 209.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCRX has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore initiated coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $17.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $19.64.

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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