Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD)

Victory Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 152,646 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 9,479 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned 0.09% of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals worth $2,535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,947,640 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $255,939,000 after purchasing an additional 104,444 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $60,845,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 2,700,125 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $49,547,000 after purchasing an additional 574,251 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $40,935,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $25,555,000. 96.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on ACAD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald raised shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from $24.00 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $30.00 price objective on shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $20.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $28.13.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NASDAQ ACAD opened at $22.62 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $22.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $18.89. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. has a 52-week low of $13.40 and a 52-week high of $25.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 5.04 and a beta of 0.64.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACAD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.01. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 22.97% and a return on equity of 17.46%. The firm had revenue of $244.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $239.32 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.10 earnings per share. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 18.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Mark C. Schneyer sold 3,498 shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.60, for a total transaction of $51,070.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 62,773 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $916,485.80. The trade was a 5.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider James Kihara sold 4,000 shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.50, for a total value of $90,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 20,395 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,887.50. This trade represents a 16.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,271 shares of company stock valued at $525,079 over the last quarter. Insiders own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.