Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) Shares Up 6.7% – Here’s What Happened

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST)’s stock price traded up 6.7% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $5.05 and last traded at $5.0360. 488,019 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 3,168,518 shares. The stock had previously closed at $4.72.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AQST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Aquestive Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Aquestive Therapeutics in a report on Friday, April 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $8.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Aquestive Therapeutics has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $8.50.

Aquestive Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $625.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.19 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $4.19 and a 200-day moving average of $4.42.

Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.07) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.07. The company had revenue of $14.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.90 million. As a group, analysts expect that Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Daniel Barber sold 8,257 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.29, for a total transaction of $35,422.53. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 660,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,833,862.46. This trade represents a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 6.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AQST. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Aquestive Therapeutics by 17.0% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,794 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,862 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 6.0% during the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 47,098 shares of the company’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 2,649 shares in the last quarter. Informed Momentum Co LLC raised its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Informed Momentum Co LLC now owns 155,053 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,002,000 after buying an additional 2,721 shares during the last quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 5.9% in the first quarter. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC now owns 58,060 shares of the company’s stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 3,210 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 369,728 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,388,000 after buying an additional 3,300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 32.45% of the company’s stock.

About Aquestive Therapeutics

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel drug delivery systems. Leveraging its proprietary PharmFilm® technology, Aquestive designs thin-film formulations that facilitate sublingual, buccal and oral delivery of small molecules, offering rapid onset of action and improved patient compliance compared with traditional dosage forms.

The company’s lead product, Libervant® (diazepam) Buccal Film, is approved by the U.S.