Axsome Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AXSM) Hits New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXSM) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after TD Cowen raised their price target on the stock from $275.00 to $300.00. TD Cowen currently has a buy rating on the stock. Axsome Therapeutics traded as high as $260.19 and last traded at $249.7290, with a volume of 67830 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $252.16.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Axsome Therapeutics from $225.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Axsome Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Axsome Therapeutics from $242.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Oppenheimer set a $280.00 price target on shares of Axsome Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Axsome Therapeutics from $251.00 to $259.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Axsome Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $258.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Axsome Therapeutics

In other news, CEO Herriot Tabuteau sold 49,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $241.01, for a total transaction of $11,970,966.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 7,229 shares in the company, valued at $1,742,261.29. This represents a 87.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Susan Mahony sold 300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $237.21, for a total transaction of $71,163.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,129 shares in the company, valued at approximately $267,810.09. The trade was a 20.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 113,686 shares of company stock worth $26,666,006 in the last three months. 20.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AXSM. Kemnay Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Axsome Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in shares of Axsome Therapeutics by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in shares of Axsome Therapeutics by 82.3% during the 3rd quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Axsome Therapeutics during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC bought a new position in shares of Axsome Therapeutics in the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. 81.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Axsome Therapeutics Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a PE ratio of -66.87 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.27, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.32. The business’s 50 day moving average is $215.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $184.31.

Axsome Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AXSM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 4th. The company reported ($1.26) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.85) by ($0.41). Axsome Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 267.16% and a negative net margin of 26.59%.The company had revenue of $191.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $191.10 million. Axsome Therapeutics’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Axsome Therapeutics, Inc. will post -2.24 EPS for the current year.

About Axsome Therapeutics

Axsome Therapeutics, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing novel therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company focuses on small-molecule drugs designed to address unmet medical needs in areas such as depression, migraine, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia. Axsome employs a precision medicine approach, leveraging pharmacologic innovation to target underlying mechanisms of disease and improve patient outcomes.

Axsome’s pipeline includes several late-stage and approved product candidates.