Achieve Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ACHV) Share Price Breaks Above 200-Day Moving Average – Time to Sell?

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHV) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday. The stock has a 200-day moving average of $5.71 and traded as high as $7.84. Achieve Life Sciences shares last traded at $7.75, with a volume of 1,301,094 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ACHV has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Achieve Life Sciences in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $12.00 price objective on shares of Achieve Life Sciences in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $18.00 price objective on shares of Achieve Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Achieve Life Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 15th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Achieve Life Sciences in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $15.50.

Achieve Life Sciences Trading Up 7.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $851.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.32 and a beta of 2.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50-day moving average of $7.40 and a 200-day moving average of $5.73.

Achieve Life Sciences (NASDAQ:ACHV) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 11th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.16) by ($0.64). As a group, research analysts forecast that Achieve Life Sciences, Inc. will post -0.91 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Achieve Life Sciences

In other news, Director Richard Stewart sold 20,626 shares of Achieve Life Sciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.49, for a total value of $175,114.74. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 208,249 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,768,034.01. The trade was a 9.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 1.80% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Achieve Life Sciences

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ACHV. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Achieve Life Sciences in the second quarter valued at $278,000. Frazier Life Sciences Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Achieve Life Sciences during the second quarter worth about $49,725,000. AXQ Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Achieve Life Sciences by 65.6% during the second quarter. AXQ Capital LP now owns 25,173 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $164,000 after buying an additional 9,972 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Achieve Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $12,575,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Achieve Life Sciences in the 2nd quarter valued at about $9,318,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.52% of the company’s stock.

Achieve Life Sciences Company Profile

Achieve Life Sciences, Inc is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing cytisinicline, an investigational therapy designed to help adults stop smoking and address nicotine dependence. The company is listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol ACHV.

Cytisinicline is a plant-derived small molecule that acts on neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors involved in nicotine addiction. Achieve is evaluating the therapy in clinical studies for smoking cessation and potential support for quitting other forms of nicotine use.