BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Shares Down 7.3% on Analyst Downgrade

Key Points

• BioCryst shares fell 7.3% after RBC downgraded the stock from “outperform” to “sector perform” and set an $11 price target.
• Despite the downgrade, analyst sentiment remains positive overall: seven analysts rate the stock “buy” and five rate it “hold,” producing a “moderate buy” consensus and a $20.40 average price target.
• BioCryst reported quarterly results above expectations, with $0.30 EPS versus a $0.15 estimate and revenue of $218.25 million, up 33.6% year over year; institutional investors own 85.88% of its shares.

Shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) dropped 7.3% on Thursday after Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded the stock from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating. Royal Bank Of Canada now has a $11.00 price target on the stock. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $8.05 and last traded at $8.1630. 1,285,427 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 4,759,939 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.81.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on BCRX. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $32.00 target price on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $20.40.

Institutional Trading of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,463 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $476,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 6.7% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 135,314 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,019,000 after acquiring an additional 8,517 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 49.6% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,931,934 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,490,000 after acquiring an additional 640,704 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at $314,000. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 11.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 448,466 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $3,363,000 after acquiring an additional 47,355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.88% of the company's stock.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 7.7%

The business's 50-day moving average is $9.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $9.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 billion, a PE ratio of -5.41 and a beta of 0.57.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $218.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.28 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 86.89% and a negative net margin of 40.90%.The firm's revenue was up 33.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.15 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.25 EPS for the current year.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small‐molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure‐based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company's first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.

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