Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $27.16, but opened at $30.01. Maplight Therapeutics shares last traded at $30.2160, with a volume of 29,105 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on MPLT shares. Wall Street Zen cut Maplight Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $48.00 price objective for the company. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Maplight Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $37.78.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Up 0.1%

The firm’s fifty day moving average is $28.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.84. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion and a P/E ratio of -0.71.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Maplight Therapeutics

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $713,564.36. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 243,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,001,622. The trade was a 9.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Erin Pennock Foff sold 4,438 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total value of $126,660.52. Following the transaction, the insider owned 346,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,876,523.86. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 495,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,461. 3.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MPLT. Strs Ohio bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth about $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $205,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Company Profile

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.