Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at UBS Group

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) was upgraded by equities research analysts at UBS Group to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $43.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC began coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group began coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $35.00 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Maplight Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $36.89.

Maplight Therapeutics Trading Up 0.8%

MPLT stock opened at $29.78 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $25.99 and a 200-day moving average of $20.39. Maplight Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $12.24 and a 12 month high of $33.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion and a P/E ratio of -0.73.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.91) by ($0.43). Sell-side analysts predict that Maplight Therapeutics will post -4.45 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Maplight Therapeutics

In other Maplight Therapeutics news, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,394,094 shares in the company, valued at $37,905,415.86. The trade was a 7.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $713,564.36. Following the sale, the insider owned 243,450 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,001,622. The trade was a 9.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 495,244 shares of company stock valued at $14,079,461. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MPLT. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $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.