Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 12,923 Shares of Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. $AXSM

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 368,434 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,923 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.74% of Axsome Therapeutics worth $44,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXSM. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in Axsome Therapeutics by 20,300.0% in the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 204 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Axsome Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $34,000. UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Axsome Therapeutics by 214.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 371 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Axsome Therapeutics by 294.5% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 501 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 374 shares during the period. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in Axsome Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $77,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.49% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AXSM has been the subject of several recent research reports. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on Axsome Therapeutics from $150.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Axsome Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 price objective on shares of Axsome Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Axsome Therapeutics from an “overweight” rating to a “reduce” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Axsome Therapeutics from $212.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Nineteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Nick Pizzie sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.92, for a total transaction of $2,255,040.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 42,588 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,003,136.96. This represents a 21.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Herriot Tabuteau sold 78,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $171.28, for a total value of $13,480,249.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 7,229 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,238,183.12. This represents a 91.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 308,874 shares of company stock valued at $51,390,805. 22.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Axsome Therapeutics Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ AXSM opened at $185.54 on Thursday. Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. has a 52 week low of $86.99 and a 52 week high of $191.50. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $165.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.44. The company has a quick ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $9.35 billion, a PE ratio of -39.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.40.

Axsome Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AXSM) last announced its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.94) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.82) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $170.99 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.96 million. Axsome Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 40.90% and a negative return on equity of 277.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Axsome Therapeutics

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing novel therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company focuses on small-molecule drugs designed to address unmet medical needs in areas such as depression, migraine, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia. Axsome employs a precision medicine approach, leveraging pharmacologic innovation to target underlying mechanisms of disease and improve patient outcomes.

Axsome’s pipeline includes several late-stage and approved product candidates.