Renaissance Technologies LLC Sells 1,351,831 Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• Renaissance Technologies cut its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals position by 63.5%, selling 1,351,831 shares and retaining 776,990 shares worth approximately $7.4 million.
• Other institutional investors increased exposure, including Deerfield Management and Janus Henderson, while institutional ownership overall reached 85.88% of BCRX shares.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $20.80, despite BioCryst reporting a significant quarterly EPS miss and continued net losses.

Renaissance Technologies LLC lowered its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 63.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 776,990 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 1,351,831 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.31% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $7,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. RA Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,452,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. grew its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 7,807.2% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 7,404,386 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $57,791,000 after purchasing an additional 7,310,745 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at $24,668,000. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $27,329,000. Institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BCRX. Wall Street Zen cut BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, July 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $12.00 target price on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price target on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Citizens Jmp raised their price target on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wedbush dropped their price target on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.80.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.9%

NASDAQ BCRX opened at $8.81 on Tuesday. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $6.00 and a 12-month high of $11.22. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $9.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $8.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.95 and a beta of 0.56.

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). The company had revenue of $156.41 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $151.12 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 51.71% and a negative return on equity of 76.36%. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.58 earnings per share for the current 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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