Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen downgraded Maplight Therapeutics to “strong sell”, contrasting with a broader analyst consensus of “buy” based on four strong-buy, ten buy, two hold, and one sell ratings. The consensus price target is $34.42.
• MPLT opened at $13.02, well below its 50-day moving average of $30.66 and 52-week high of $40.43. The company reported a quarterly loss of $1.34 per share, missing estimates by $0.43.
• Company insiders sold 379,987 shares worth approximately $10.6 million over the past 90 days, though the transactions were conducted under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plans.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, July 20th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Maplight Therapeutics from $43.00 to $24.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $34.42.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

MPLT stock opened at $13.02 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $554.91 million and a P/E ratio of -0.32. The business's 50-day moving average is $30.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $24.88. Maplight Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $9.10 and a 1 year high of $40.43.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). On average, analysts expect that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.22 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Vishwas Setia sold 10,564 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $298,327.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 356,256 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,060,669.44. This trade represents a 2.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 4,438 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $126,660.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 346,059 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,876,523.86. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 379,987 shares of company stock worth $10,644,411 over the last 90 days. 3.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLT. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics by 10.1% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 39,465 shares of the company's stock valued at $802,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares in the last quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $93,000. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $172,000.

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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