Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Stock Rating Upgraded by HC Wainwright

Key Points

• HC Wainwright upgraded Maplight Therapeutics (MPLT) to a "strong-buy", while overall analyst coverage is mixed with an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.43.
• Maplight reported a sharp quarterly loss of ($2.47) EPS, missing the ($1.05) estimate, and sell-side analysts project about -3.87 EPS for the current year, highlighting ongoing negative earnings pressure.
• Insider activity is notable: director Anatol Kreitzer sold 45,422 shares at $29.66 (a 17.7% drop in his holdings), while director George Pavlov bought 9,920 shares at $17.86; insiders have net sold significantly over the past 90 days.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by analysts at HC Wainwright to a "strong-buy" rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Maplight Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a "sell (e)" rating on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. Finally, TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $34.43.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of MPLT opened at $28.61 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.72. The company has a 50-day moving average of $22.19. Maplight Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $12.24 and a fifty-two week high of $33.28.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported ($2.47) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by ($1.42). As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Maplight Therapeutics will post -3.87 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, insider Anatol Kreitzer sold 45,422 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.66, for a total transaction of $1,347,216.52. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 211,190 shares in the company, valued at $6,263,895.40. This represents a 17.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director George Pavlov acquired 9,920 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $17.86 per share, for a total transaction of $177,171.20. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 25,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $446,500. This represents a 65.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have bought 39,124 shares of company stock valued at $693,846 and have sold 148,431 shares valued at $4,040,428.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $49,168,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Vestal Point Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $6,763,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $840,000. Finally, Orbimed Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $952,000.

About Maplight Therapeutics

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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