Needham & Company LLC Reiterates Buy Rating for KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC has reiterated its "buy" rating for KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV) and set a price target of $28.00, indicating a potential upside of 97.59%.
• KalVista Pharmaceuticals recently reported a loss of $1.12 EPS for the quarter, missing consensus estimates, and generated revenue of $1.43 million, below analyst expectations.
• Insider sales were noted, with CEO Benjamin L. Palleiko selling over 32,000 shares recently, reflecting an 8.19% decrease in his ownership stake.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $28.00 price objective on the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock. Needham & Company LLC's price target points to a potential upside of 97.59% from the company's previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on KALV. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Leerink Partners boosted their target price on shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and eight have given a Buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $26.43.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ KALV traded down $0.64 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $14.17. 232,387 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 801,309. KalVista Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $7.30 and a twelve month high of $17.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $12.77. The company has a market cap of $713.37 million, a PE ratio of -3.77 and a beta of -0.10.

KalVista Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KALV - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, September 11th. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported ($1.12) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $1.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 million. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that KalVista Pharmaceuticals will post -3.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Paul K. Audhya sold 2,942 shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.22, for a total value of $38,893.24. Following the transaction, the insider owned 119,841 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,584,298.02. The trade was a 2.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Benjamin L. Palleiko sold 32,979 shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $15.69, for a total value of $517,440.51. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 369,595 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,798,945.55. This represents a 8.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 59,835 shares of company stock worth $892,350. Company insiders own 4.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of KALV. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. increased its holdings in KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. now owns 4,887,867 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock valued at $41,400,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,000 shares during the period. Stempoint Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,409,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 2,258.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 945,125 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $10,685,000 after acquiring an additional 905,053 shares during the period. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals by 19.3% during the 4th quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 4,770,000 shares of the specialty pharmaceutical company's stock worth $40,402,000 after acquiring an additional 770,000 shares during the period. Finally, Parkman Healthcare Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of KalVista Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,698,000.

About KalVista Pharmaceuticals

KalVista Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company, engages in the discovery, development, and commercialization of drug therapies inhibitors for diseases with unmet needs. The company's product candidate is Sebetralstat, a small molecule plasma kallikrein inhibitor targeting the disease of hereditary angioedema (HAE).

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