Nwam LLC Reduces Position in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. $AVXL

Nwam LLC decreased its holdings in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) by 14.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 874,283 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 150,196 shares during the period. Anavex Life Sciences accounts for approximately 0.6% of Nwam LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Nwam LLC’s holdings in Anavex Life Sciences were worth $8,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AVXL. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 2.8% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,019,795 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,624,000 after purchasing an additional 54,985 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Anavex Life Sciences by 55.8% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 863,959 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,966,000 after buying an additional 309,605 shares during the last quarter. Sheets Smith Investment Management purchased a new stake in Anavex Life Sciences in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,210,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 128,370 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,184,000 after acquiring an additional 7,377 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PVG Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 34.9% during the 2nd quarter. PVG Asset Management Corp now owns 111,445 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 28,837 shares during the period. 31.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AVXL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. D. Boral Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $24.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Jones Trading lowered shares of Anavex Life Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $20.00 price objective on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a research report on Friday, December 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.00.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Up 0.6%

NASDAQ:AVXL opened at $4.85 on Friday. Anavex Life Sciences Corp. has a 52 week low of $2.86 and a 52 week high of $13.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $4.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $433.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.98 and a beta of 1.17.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 25th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.13) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.14) EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. will post -0.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp is a clinical?stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company applies a proprietary drug discovery platform that targets sigma?1 and muscarinic receptors to modulate cellular stress pathways and support neuronal function. Headquartered in New York City, Anavex is dedicated to advancing treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead product candidate, blarcamesine (ANAVEX2?73), is a small?molecule activator of the sigma?1 receptor currently being evaluated in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia.