Virtu Financial LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. $AVXL

Key Points

• Virtu Financial LLC significantly decreased its stake in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. by 71.2%, selling 64,139 shares in the first quarter and reducing its holdings to 25,895 shares valued at approximately $222,000.
• Multiple institutional investors have increased their positions in Anavex Life Sciences, including Private Advisor Group LLC, which raised its stake by an impressive 617.5%.
• Anavex Life Sciences recently reported a quarterly loss of ($0.16) earnings per share, missing analysts' expectations of ($0.13) per share.

Virtu Financial LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL - Free Report) by 71.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,895 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 64,139 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC's holdings in Anavex Life Sciences were worth $222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in AVXL. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 36.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 93,903 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,009,000 after purchasing an additional 25,048 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 115,200 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,237,000 after acquiring an additional 7,360 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 54.2% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 59,066 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $634,000 after acquiring an additional 20,771 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 2,419.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 615,048 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,606,000 after purchasing an additional 590,639 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences during the fourth quarter worth about $167,000. 31.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, D. Boral Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $46.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.00.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Performance

NASDAQ:AVXL traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.55. The stock had a trading volume of 670,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,141,114. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $10.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $820.25 million, a P/E ratio of -16.75 and a beta of 0.80. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. has a one year low of $4.93 and a one year high of $14.44.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.13) by ($0.03). Research analysts forecast that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. will post -0.69 earnings per share for the current year.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system diseases. Its lead product candidate is ANAVEX 2-73 for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, as well as other central nervous system diseases, including rare diseases, such as Rett syndrome, a rare severe neurological monogenic disorder; and infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, and Angelman syndrome.