Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Sees Strong Trading Volume – Time to Buy?

Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) saw strong trading volume on Tuesday . 4,247,610 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 982% from the previous session’s volume of 392,687 shares.The stock last traded at $11.8450 and had previously closed at $9.90.

Key Maplight Therapeutics News

Here are the key news stories impacting Maplight Therapeutics this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright lowered its price target to $26 from $45 but maintained a Buy rating, implying significant potential upside from recent trading levels. Benzinga
• Positive Sentiment: MapLight reported that the 210/3 mg twice-daily dose of its investigational schizophrenia treatment, ML-007C-MA (betovumeline/fesoterodine), met the Phase 2 ZEPHYR trial’s primary endpoint. The treatment also showed improvements on cognitive performance and other schizophrenia measures, was generally well tolerated, and supports another potentially registrational trial and discussions with the FDA. MapLight Phase 2 results
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its Equal Weight rating while setting a $21 price target, still well above recent levels despite reducing its target from $34. Benzinga

Analyst Ratings Changes

MPLT has been the topic of several research analyst reports. HC Wainwright reduced their target price on Maplight Therapeutics from $45.00 to $26.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $34.42.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $520.01 million and a P/E ratio of -0.30.

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

Insider Transactions at Maplight Therapeutics

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total value of $713,564.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 243,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,001,622. This represents a 9.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,905,415.86. This trade represents a 7.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 379,987 shares of company stock valued at $10,644,411 in the last three months. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

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

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.