Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) Shares Up 3.5%

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 3.5% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $15.81 and last traded at $15.76. 95,650 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average session volume of 1,413,917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.22.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CPRX. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $34.00 target price on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, March 22nd. TheStreet raised Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a "c+" rating to a "b" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. StockNews.com raised Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. Bank of America began coverage on Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, March 7th. They set a "buy" rating and a $23.00 target price for the company. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. They set a "buy" rating and a $27.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $26.43.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $14.47. The company has a market capitalization of $1.82 billion, a PE ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 0.89.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 28th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.04. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 26.56% and a net margin of 17.93%. The business had revenue of $110.57 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $105.78 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 1.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

In other Catalyst Pharmaceuticals news, Director David S. Tierney sold 25,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.68, for a total value of $392,000.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 348,874 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,470,344.32. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 12.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CPRX. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 119.6% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 15,268,931 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $195,902,000 after purchasing an additional 8,317,115 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 39.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,555,423 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $96,936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117,944 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 134.1% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,723,895 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $19,095,000 after buying an additional 1,560,086 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 965.2% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,541,660 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $25,610,000 after buying an additional 1,396,930 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 26.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,139,650 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $78,772,000 after buying an additional 1,277,662 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.22% of the company's stock.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients.