Needham & Company LLC Boosts Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Price Target to $42.00

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) had its price objective increased by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $37.00 to $42.00 in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 37.98% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on MPLT. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen began coverage on Maplight Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Lifesci Capital raised shares of Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $28.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Maplight Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $38.33.

Maplight Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ MPLT traded up $1.62 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $30.44. 304,907 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 256,377. Maplight Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $12.24 and a 12 month high of $33.28. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -0.74. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.06.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). Equities research analysts expect that Maplight Therapeutics will post -5.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Jonathan Gillis sold 51,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.74, for a total value of $1,543,506.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 199,154 shares in the company, valued at $5,922,839.96. This represents a 20.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total transaction of $3,214,809.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,905,415.86. This trade represents a 7.82% 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. Insiders sold 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Maplight Therapeutics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Strs Ohio bought a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at $53,000. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $70,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund bought a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth $93,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter worth about $172,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new stake in Maplight Therapeutics in the 4th quarter valued at about $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.