Short Interest in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) Decreases By 5.5%

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,360,000 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 9,910,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,530,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.1 days.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 9.9 %

NASDAQ ACAD opened at $18.35 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $16.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.53 and a beta of 0.40. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $14.15 and a 12-month high of $31.82.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $250.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $248.83 million. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 25.83% and a net margin of 13.83%. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals will post 0.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at ACADIA Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Mark C. Schneyer sold 10,259 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $172,453.79. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 53,302 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $896,006.62. The trade was a 16.14 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider James Kihara sold 4,073 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.81, for a total value of $68,467.13. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,863 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $333,897.03. This trade represents a 17.02 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,661 shares of company stock worth $414,551 over the last three months. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 67.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 129,551 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $1,992,000 after purchasing an additional 52,340 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,875,540 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $44,234,000 after buying an additional 30,826 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 126.2% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 277,565 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $4,269,000 after buying an additional 154,854 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,973,874 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $91,878,000 after acquiring an additional 173,084 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Iron Triangle Partners LP purchased a new position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $11,535,000. 96.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on ACAD shares. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $27.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.60.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization innovative medicines that address unmet medical needs in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and rare diseases in the United States. The company offers NUPLAZID (pimavanserin) for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis; and DAYBUE, a novel synthetic analog of the amino-terminal tripeptide of insulin-like growth factor 1 for treatment of Rett Syndrome.