BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) Shares Up 7.8% – Should You Buy?

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX)’s share price was up 7.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $9.23 and last traded at $9.1270. Approximately 2,657,684 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 48% from the average daily volume of 5,109,965 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.47.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on BCRX shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Citizens Jmp increased their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore initiated coverage on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $17.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $20.70.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.6%

The company has a market cap of $2.25 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $9.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $8.01.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.98) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($3.04). BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 51.71% and a negative return on equity of 76.36%. The firm had revenue of $156.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $151.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.15, for a total value of $1,372,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 400,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,666,432.45. This trade represents a 27.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,273,375 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $173,732,000 after buying an additional 482,494 shares in the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $123,452,000. Deerfield Management Company L.P. raised its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 159.4% in the third quarter. Deerfield Management Company L.P. now owns 12,169,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $92,363,000 after buying an additional 7,477,000 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 12.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,073,211 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $86,371,000 after buying an additional 1,265,773 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 20.3% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,908,506 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $84,854,000 after buying an additional 1,504,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.88% of the company’s stock.

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.