Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Director Acquires $148,702.40 in Stock

Key Points

• Director Troy Cox bought 15,620 Maplight Therapeutics shares at an average price of $9.52, investing $148,702.40 in the company.
• Maplight shares rose 24.3% to $12.31, despite remaining well below their 52-week high of $40.43. The company reported a quarterly loss of $1.34 per share, missing estimates by $0.43.
• The ZEPHYR trial showed statistically significant benefits for the twice-daily dose of ML-007C-MA in schizophrenia, but the once-daily arm failed; Maplight plans another trial before seeking regulatory approval.

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) Director Troy Cox acquired 15,620 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $9.52 per share, for a total transaction of $148,702.40. Following the acquisition, the director owned 15,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $148,702.40. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Maplight Therapeutics Trading Up 24.3%

Maplight Therapeutics stock traded up $2.41 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $12.31. 5,538,981 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 904,055. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $31.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.00. Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.10 and a fifty-two week high of $40.43. The firm has a market cap of $524.65 million and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.30.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.91) by ($0.43). Analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Key Headlines Impacting Maplight Therapeutics

Here are the key news stories impacting Maplight Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: The ZEPHYR trial met its primary endpoint for the 210/3 mg twice-daily dose, which produced a statistically significant improvement in PANSS total score versus placebo. The dose also showed benefits on cognition, symptom severity and positive symptoms, with generally favorable tolerability. MapLight plans another potentially registrational trial and an FDA End-of-Phase 2 meeting. MapLight Announces Positive Topline Results
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts still see potential value after the selloff. HC Wainwright retained a “buy” rating with a $26 price target, while Morgan Stanley maintained “equal weight” with a $21 target—both above the recent trading level, although each firm reduced its target substantially. Analyst Rating Reports
• Neutral Sentiment: The twice-daily regimen’s success may preserve a development path for ML-007C-MA, but the results are not yet sufficient for approval. MapLight expects to conduct another trial to replicate the findings before pursuing registration.
• Negative Sentiment: The key disappointment was the once-daily dosing arm, which failed to show statistically significant symptom improvement. Investors viewed this as a major setback because a once-daily treatment could have offered a simpler, more convenient option. The news erased more than $1 billion in market value and sharply reduced confidence in the program. MapLight Once-Daily Trial Report
• Negative Sentiment: A law firm has announced an investor fraud investigation opportunity related to MapLight. The notice does not establish wrongdoing, but such announcements can add legal and reputational uncertainty to an already volatile stock. Investor Fraud Investigation Notice

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on MPLT shares. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Maplight Therapeutics from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "equal weight" rating and issued a $21.00 target price (down from $34.00) on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a "strong-buy" rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $34.42.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fcpm Iii Services B.V. bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at about $56,672,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,154,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,026,000. Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $17,060,000. Finally, 5AM Venture Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $16,687,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Company Profile

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.

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