Needham & Company LLC Raises Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Price Target to $45.00

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC raised its price target on Maplight Therapeutics to $45 from $42 and kept a buy rating, implying about 13% upside from the prior close.
• Other analysts remain mostly positive on the stock, with Raymond James initiating coverage at a strong-buy and $46 target, while the overall consensus remains a buy with an average target of $39.10.
• Maplight shares were up 3.3% to $39.80, but the company recently reported a quarterly EPS miss of $1.34 versus expectations of $0.91 loss, and insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) had its price target raised by research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $42.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's price objective would indicate a potential upside of 13.07% from the stock's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on MPLT. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a "strong-buy" rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Maplight Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, March 21st. Craig Hallum cut their target price on Maplight Therapeutics from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a "buy" rating on the stock. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $39.10.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Up 3.3%

NASDAQ MPLT opened at $39.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion and a P/E ratio of -0.97. The company's 50 day moving average is $30.53 and its 200-day moving average is $23.60. Maplight Therapeutics has a 12-month low of $12.24 and a 12-month high of $39.91.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Equities analysts expect that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Maplight Therapeutics

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total value of $3,214,809.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares of the company's stock, valued at $37,905,415.86. The trade was a 7.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $713,564.36. Following the sale, the insider owned 243,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,001,622. This trade represents a 9.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 495,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,461. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the first quarter worth about $1,113,000. ADAR1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,622,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in 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 worth $802,000 after buying an additional 3,608 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $49,168,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $228,000.

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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