Insider Selling: Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) CFO Sells $418,951.44 in Stock

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) CFO Vishwas Setia sold 14,904 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.11, for a total transaction of $418,951.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 377,723 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,617,793.53. This trade represents a 3.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Vishwas Setia also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, May 6th, Vishwas Setia sold 10,564 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.24, for a total transaction of $298,327.36.
• On Tuesday, May 5th, Vishwas Setia sold 10,903 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.20, for a total transaction of $307,464.60.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MPLT opened at $27.40 on Friday. Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. has a 1 year low of $12.24 and a 1 year high of $33.28. The stock has a market cap of $1.17 billion and a PE ratio of -0.69. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.83.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 26th. The company reported ($2.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($1.42). On average, research analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MPLT. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $205,000.

Key Maplight Therapeutics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Maplight Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MapLight Therapeutics announced that management will participate in upcoming investor conferences, which can help keep the company visible to potential investors and may provide a near-term catalyst. MapLight Therapeutics to Participate in Upcoming Investor Conferences
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a Buy rating on MPLT, reinforcing Wall Street support for the stock and helping offset some of the recent negative sentiment. Needham Reaffirms Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst coverage elsewhere in the tape remained constructive, including Buy ratings and higher price targets, which supports the longer-term bullish case for MapLight Therapeutics. Analyst coverage summary
• Neutral Sentiment: The company’s recent earnings history remains mixed, with a prior quarterly loss wider than expected; this is still part of the backdrop but not the main driver of today’s move. MPLT earnings summary
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders, including CEO Christopher Kroeger, CFO Vishwas Setia, and insiders James Woodruff Lillie and Erin Pennock Foff, sold shares over May 4–6. Although the sales were made under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans, the cluster of transactions can weigh on sentiment and suggest near-term selling pressure. CEO Form 4 filing
• Negative Sentiment: The repeated insider sales may be contributing to the stock’s decline today, as investors often view sustained insider selling as a cautionary signal even when it is pre-planned. Insider sale filing

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 price target on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. They issued a “sell (e)” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Maplight Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.43.

About Maplight Therapeutics

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.