Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 482,494 Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $BCRX

Key Points

• Vanguard Group increased its BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stake by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 482,494 shares and bringing its total holding to 22.27 million shares worth about $173.7 million.
• Institutional ownership in BCRX remains high, with several other hedge funds also adding shares; overall, institutional investors own about 85.88% of the stock.
• BioCryst reported a quarterly earnings miss, posting EPS of -$2.98 versus the expected $0.06, even though revenue of $156.4 million topped estimates and rose 7.5% year over year.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,273,375 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 482,494 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.57% of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals worth $173,732,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Deerfield Management Company L.P. boosted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% during 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 period. State Street Corp boosted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 8.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,505,392 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $76,208,000 after purchasing an additional 691,988 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 22.1% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 5,225,986 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $39,665,000 after buying an additional 947,431 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,419,629 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $33,545,000 after buying an additional 131,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 97.9% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,841,155 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $25,457,000 after buying an additional 1,405,498 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BCRX has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $16.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citizens Jmp lifted their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings raised BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 30th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $20.70.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.15, for a total value of $1,372,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 400,703 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,666,432.45. The trade was a 27.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

BCRX stock opened at $8.62 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a PE ratio of -4.84 and a beta of 0.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $9.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $7.83. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $6.00 and a 52 week high of $11.31.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($3.04). The company had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.12 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 51.71% and a negative return on equity of 76.36%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.20 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal 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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