Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $21.3333.

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Anavex Life Sciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Rodman & Renshaw started coverage on Anavex Life Sciences in a research report on Monday, May 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $20.00 price objective on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Anavex Life Sciences

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AVXL. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Anavex Life Sciences by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,383,406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,605,000 after purchasing an additional 1,096,288 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 17,921.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 744,469 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,650,000 after purchasing an additional 740,338 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 187.7% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 872,968 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,108,000 after purchasing an additional 569,579 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 103.3% in the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 903,392 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,216,000 after purchasing an additional 459,121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Anavex Life Sciences in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,310,000. 31.55% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of AVXL stock opened at $3.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $296.64 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.21 and a beta of 1.15. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $2.73 and a 200 day moving average of $3.29. Anavex Life Sciences has a 52 week low of $2.26 and a 52 week high of $10.40.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by $0.01. Equities research analysts anticipate that Anavex Life Sciences will post -0.33 earnings per share for the current year.

About Anavex Life Sciences

Anavex Life Sciences Corp is a clinical‐stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company applies a proprietary drug discovery platform that targets sigma‐1 and muscarinic receptors to modulate cellular stress pathways and support neuronal function. Headquartered in New York City, Anavex is dedicated to advancing treatments for neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental diseases with high unmet medical need.

The company’s lead product candidate, blarcamesine (ANAVEX2‐73), is a small‐molecule activator of the sigma‐1 receptor currently being evaluated in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia.