BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Receives "Buy" Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated its "buy" rating for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) with a price target of $17.00, suggesting a potential upside of 94.73% from the previous close.
• BioCryst Pharmaceuticals reported a 49.5% year-over-year increase in revenue for the last quarter, achieving $163.35 million compared to consensus estimates of $149.59 million.
• The stock is currently up 9.8% at $8.73, while research analysts maintain a consensus rating of "Buy" with an average price target of $16.70.

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $17.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Saturday, July 26th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $13.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $13.00 target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, June 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $16.70.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:BCRX traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $8.38. The company had a trading volume of 585,290 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,882,032. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $6.01 and a 52-week high of $11.31. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $9.37 and its 200-day moving average price is $8.75. The company has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of -46.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.10.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $163.35 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.59 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 49.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $80,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 57,190 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,537 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $299,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 7.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,890,422 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $164,616,000 after purchasing an additional 1,583,826 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $3,947,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.88% of the company's stock.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, develops oral small-molecule and protein therapeutics to treat rare diseases. The company markets peramivir injection, an intravenous neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of acute uncomplicated influenza under the RAPIVAB, RAPIACTA, and PERAMIFLU names; and ORLADEYO, an oral serine protease inhibitor to treat hereditary angioedema.