Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Stock Rating Upgraded by BMO Capital Markets

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) was upgraded by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on MPLT. Craig Hallum lowered their price objective on Maplight Therapeutics from $43.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 13th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Lifesci Capital raised shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Maplight Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $40.09.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of MPLT stock opened at $37.44 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion and a PE ratio of -0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.69. Maplight Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $12.24 and a 52-week high of $40.43.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). Sell-side analysts anticipate that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares in the company, valued at $37,905,415.86. This trade represents a 7.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 4,438 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $126,660.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 346,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,876,523.86. This represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 495,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,461 in the last three months. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Maplight Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strs Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Blue Owl Capital Holdings LP acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $5,745,000. Geode Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $6,835,000. Seven Grand Managers LLC purchased a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,756,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,026,000.

About Maplight Therapeutics

We are a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving the lives of patients suffering from debilitating central nervous system, or CNS, disorders. We were founded by globally recognized leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research to address the lack of circuit-specific pharmacotherapies available for patients. Our discovery platform holds the potential to fill this void by identifying neural circuits causally linked to disease and targeting those circuits for therapeutic modulation.