Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) Receives $33.20 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:CPRX) has received a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $33.20.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CPRX. Wall Street Zen raised Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, October 12th. Zacks Research downgraded Catalyst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.2%

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $20.97 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.79. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $19.05 and a 12 month high of $26.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $21.84.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:CPRX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 25th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The firm had revenue of $53.11 million for the quarter. Catalyst Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 40.78% and a net margin of 37.36%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Catalyst Pharmaceuticals will post 1.9 EPS for the current year.

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, October 1st that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the biopharmaceutical company to reacquire up to 8.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director David S. Tierney sold 26,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.20, for a total transaction of $525,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 379,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,668,324. This represents a 6.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Steve Miller sold 115,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.28, for a total value of $2,332,200.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 949,663 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,259,165.64. This trade represents a 10.80% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 243,970 shares of company stock worth $4,927,241 in the last three months. 10.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,495,580 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $206,018,000 after acquiring an additional 64,486 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 11.9% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,135,473 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $76,035,000 after buying an additional 333,100 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 3.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,866,683 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $62,214,000 after buying an additional 101,127 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 30.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,365,675 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $51,335,000 after buying an additional 554,200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals by 233.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,757,988 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $38,148,000 after buying an additional 1,231,419 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.22% of the company’s stock.

About Catalyst Pharmaceuticals

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and commercializing therapies for people with rare debilitating, chronic neuromuscular, and neurological diseases in the United States. It offers Firdapse, an amifampridine phosphate tablets for the treatment of patients with lambert-eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS); and Ruzurgi for the treatment of pediatric LEMS patients.