CymaBay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CBAY) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBAY) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $22.00 to $24.00. The stock had previously closed at $15.01, but opened at $15.42. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. CymaBay Therapeutics shares last traded at $16.50, with a volume of 795,248 shares traded.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of CymaBay Therapeutics from $17.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Jonestrading boosted their price objective on CymaBay Therapeutics from $13.00 to $15.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 15th. UBS Group assumed coverage on CymaBay Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, August 14th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $18.00 price objective on the stock. B. Riley raised their price target on shares of CymaBay Therapeutics from $16.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of CymaBay Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $19.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, General Counsel Paul T. Quinlan sold 5,000 shares of CymaBay Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total value of $50,250.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, General Counsel Paul T. Quinlan sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.05, for a total value of $50,250.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Charles Mcwherter sold 21,749 shares of CymaBay Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.16, for a total transaction of $177,471.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 15,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $122,400. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 101,189 shares of company stock worth $1,103,010. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CymaBay Therapeutics

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in CymaBay Therapeutics by 183.2% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,504,670 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $82,176,000 after purchasing an additional 4,854,593 shares in the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CymaBay Therapeutics by 450.5% during the first quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 3,903,255 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $34,036,000 after buying an additional 3,194,262 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CymaBay Therapeutics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,842,376 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $11,950,000 after acquiring an additional 53,919 shares during the period. Cormorant Asset Management LP raised its stake in CymaBay Therapeutics by 198.9% in the 2nd quarter. Cormorant Asset Management LP now owns 3,800,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $41,610,000 after acquiring an additional 2,528,571 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in CymaBay Therapeutics by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,272,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $35,828,000 after acquiring an additional 47,146 shares during the period. 95.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CymaBay Therapeutics Trading Up 8.2 %

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.28. The company has a current ratio of 12.52, a quick ratio of 12.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.45 and a beta of 0.35.

CymaBay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CBAY) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 10th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.21) by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $31.02 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.78 million. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CymaBay Therapeutics Company Profile

CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and providing therapies to treat liver and other chronic diseases. Its lead product candidate is seladelpar (MBX-8025), a selective agonist of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor delta for the treatments of autoimmune liver disease, primary biliary cholangitis (PBC).