Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Call Options (NASDAQ:BCRX)

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders purchased 9,003 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 202% compared to the average daily volume of 2,984 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on BCRX shares. Weiss Ratings upgraded BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals from $14.00 to $13.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 30th. HC Wainwright lifted 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. Finally, Evercore initiated coverage on BioCryst Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $17.00 price target on the stock. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $19.64.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of BCRX traded down $0.33 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $9.06. 4,447,590 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,453,316. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $7.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $7.51. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $6.00 and a 52 week high of $11.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion, a PE ratio of 7.55 and a beta of 0.70.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BioCryst Pharmaceuticals news, insider Alane P. Barnes sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.15, for a total value of $1,372,500.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 400,703 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,666,432.45. This represents a 27.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 63,463 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $476,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 12,330 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its position in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 22,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,527 shares during the period. Counterweight Ventures LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Counterweight Ventures LLC now owns 95,384 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals by 26.1% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 10,231 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 2,115 shares in the last quarter. 85.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

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.