Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC. (NASDAQ:AVDL) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $19.24, but opened at $23.27. Avadel Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $23.0850, with a volume of 6,804,906 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on AVDL. UBS Group cut Avadel Pharmaceuticals to a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Avadel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Avadel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $22.00 to $20.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Craig Hallum cut shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $17.81.

Avadel Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 22.5%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $16.65 and a 200-day moving average of $12.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -785.33 and a beta of 1.47.

Avadel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AVDL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported $0.00 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $77.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.05 million. Avadel Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 1.32% and a negative return on equity of 3.73%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 55.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.03) EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Avadel Pharmaceuticals PLC. will post -0.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avadel Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kovack Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 13,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 19,376 shares of the company’s stock worth $171,000 after buying an additional 1,759 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 164.5% in the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 54,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $430,000 after buying an additional 2,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in Avadel Pharmaceuticals by 195.4% during the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,471 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 2,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.19% of the company’s stock.

About Avadel Pharmaceuticals

Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc operates as a biopharmaceutical company in the United States. Its lead product candidate is LUMRYZ, a formulation of sodium oxybate, which is in a Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness or cataplexy in adults with narcolepsy. The company was formerly known as Flamel Technologies SA and changed its name to Avadel Pharmaceuticals plc in January 2017.