StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL)

Stock analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL – Get Rating) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday. The brokerage set a “sell” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Jonestrading raised their price target on Anavex Life Sciences from $40.00 to $80.00 in a research note on Friday, December 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Anavex Life Sciences from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $16.00 to $11.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, February 6th. Finally, BTIG Research reduced their target price on Anavex Life Sciences from $35.00 to $28.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.80.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Down 0.3 %

AVXL stock opened at $9.51 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $10.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.31. The company has a market cap of $742.07 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.45 and a beta of 0.75. Anavex Life Sciences has a twelve month low of $7.13 and a twelve month high of $15.24.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.20) by $0.03. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Anavex Life Sciences will post -0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences during the 4th quarter worth approximately $274,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 36,150 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 309.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 833,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,718,000 after purchasing an additional 630,156 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 75.8% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 383,483 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,551,000 after purchasing an additional 165,312 shares during the period. Finally, E Fund Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 29.5% in the 4th quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 24,362 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 5,547 shares during the period. 31.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Anavex Life Sciences Company Profile

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Anavex Life Sciences Corp. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development of different therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases. Its lead compound, ANAVEX2-73, is being developed to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and central nervous system diseases, including Rett syndrome.