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

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $9.80, but opened at $10.13. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $9.7990, with a volume of 3,202,925 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BCRX has been the subject of a number of research reports. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Evercore began 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. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, BioCryst Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $19.64.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $7.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $7.44. The company has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.97 and a beta of 0.73.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:BCRX) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $1.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $1.05. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 84.33% and a net margin of 30.16%.The company had revenue of $163.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $151.32 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 209.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -0.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jump Financial LLC raised its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 805.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 1,347,112 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,070,000 after acquiring an additional 1,198,263 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 48.7% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,584,206 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,194,000 after purchasing an additional 518,623 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 326.1% in the second quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 440,249 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,945,000 after purchasing an additional 336,920 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2,103.7% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 4,278,555 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,336,000 after buying an additional 4,084,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,790,881 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $165,393,000 after buying an additional 1,246,633 shares during the period. 85.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.