BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Trading 5.3% Higher – Here’s Why

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX)’s share price rose 5.3% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $7.10 and last traded at $7.1060. Approximately 441,140 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 4,966,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.75.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating and a $30.00 price objective for the company. JMP Securities boosted their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI reissued an “in-line” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.0%

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -137.70, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average is $7.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $7.68.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.06 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $159.40 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $162.91 million. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 1.46% and a negative return on equity of 4.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -0.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BioCryst Pharmaceuticals news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 21,773 shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, December 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $7.65, for a total transaction of $166,563.45. Following the sale, the insider owned 398,751 shares in the company, valued at $3,050,445.15. The trade was a 5.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 183,453 shares of company stock valued at $1,330,965. 5.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $115,000. SteelPeak Wealth LLC bought a new stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $107,000. Aberdeen Group plc bought a new position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $7,126,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management boosted its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 34.7% in the 4th quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 32,910 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $257,000 after purchasing an additional 8,474 shares during the period. Finally, Counterweight Ventures LLC lifted its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC now owns 95,384 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $744,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical?stage biotechnology company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the discovery and development of novel, oral small?molecule medicines for rare and serious diseases. Since its founding in 1986, the company has leveraged structure?based drug design to advance a pipeline of targeted therapeutics designed to address underlying disease mechanisms rather than just treat symptoms.

The company’s first commercial product, Orladeyo (berotralstat), is an oral kallikrein inhibitor approved for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE) in both the United States and Europe.