Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:AQST) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $8.50.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a report on Friday, April 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $8.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Aquestive Therapeutics in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Aquestive Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Aquestive Therapeutics news, CEO Daniel Barber sold 8,257 shares of Aquestive Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.29, for a total value of $35,422.53. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 660,574 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,833,862.46. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Julie Krop sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.02, for a total value of $125,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 25,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $125,500. This trade represents a 50.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 6.81% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Aquestive Therapeutics by 12.2% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 129,019 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after purchasing an additional 14,025 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Aquestive Therapeutics by 16.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,977,001 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,545,000 after purchasing an additional 276,295 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 15.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 98,751 shares of the company’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 13,130 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 46.3% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 435,972 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,443,000 after purchasing an additional 137,956 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Aquestive Therapeutics by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 140,872 shares of the company’s stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 36,509 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 32.45% of the company’s stock.

Aquestive Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of AQST stock opened at $4.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $516.94 million, a PE ratio of -6.75 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $4.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.19. Aquestive Therapeutics has a one year low of $2.93 and a one year high of $7.55.

Aquestive Therapeutics (NASDAQ:AQST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $14.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.90 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Aquestive Therapeutics will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

About Aquestive Therapeutics

Aquestive Therapeutics, Inc is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel drug delivery systems. Leveraging its proprietary PharmFilm® technology, Aquestive designs thin-film formulations that facilitate sublingual, buccal and oral delivery of small molecules, offering rapid onset of action and improved patient compliance compared with traditional dosage forms.

The company’s lead product, Libervant® (diazepam) Buccal Film, is approved by the U.S.