EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EYPT) Shares Gap Up Following Insider Buying Activity

Shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:EYPT) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after an insider bought additional shares in the company. The stock had previously closed at $16.95, but opened at $18.26. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $17.98, with a volume of 100,302 shares trading hands.

Specifically, insider Dario A. Paggiarino sold 49,325 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.66, for a total transaction of $1,265,679.50. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 36,505 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $936,718.30. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other EyePoint Pharmaceuticals news, major shareholder Cormorant Asset Management, Lp acquired 581,765 shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $18.03 per share, with a total value of $10,489,222.95. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now owns 7,475,000 shares in the company, valued at $134,774,250. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Dario A. Paggiarino sold 49,325 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.66, for a total transaction of $1,265,679.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 36,505 shares in the company, valued at $936,718.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,134 shares of company stock valued at $1,286,634 over the last three months. 13.05% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $35.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. HC Wainwright cut their target price on shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Capital One Financial reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.00.

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 8.1 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.54. The company has a market capitalization of $913.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.90 and a beta of 1.64.

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:EYPT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 7th. The company reported ($0.33) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.60) by $0.27. EyePoint Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 153.84% and a negative return on equity of 61.48%. The business had revenue of $14.03 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.71 million. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.61) earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in EYPT. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $24,641,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 4,640,651 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,245,000 after acquiring an additional 488,206 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in EyePoint Pharmaceuticals by 194.0% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 674,824 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,595,000 after buying an additional 445,289 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG increased its stake in EyePoint Pharmaceuticals by 487.6% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 526,848 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,210,000 after buying an additional 437,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Turn Management LLC acquired a new stake in EyePoint Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at $7,326,000. 99.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About EyePoint Pharmaceuticals

EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in developing and commercializing therapeutics to improve the lives of patients with serious retinal diseases. The company's pipeline leverages its proprietary bioerodible Durasert E technology for sustained intraocular drug delivery.