Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) Reaches New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Shares of Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MPLT) hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $34.36 and last traded at $33.1560, with a volume of 58855 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.96.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on MPLT shares. Lifesci Capital raised Maplight Therapeutics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “strong-buy” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Maplight Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Maplight Therapeutics from $37.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Four investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Maplight Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.80.

Maplight Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $1.42 billion and a P/E ratio of -0.81. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.52.

Maplight Therapeutics (NASDAQ:MPLT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The company reported ($1.34) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.91) by ($0.43). Research analysts predict that Maplight Therapeutics, Inc. will post -5.13 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider James Woodruff Lillie sold 24,811 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.76, for a total transaction of $713,564.36. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 243,450 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,001,622. The trade was a 9.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Christopher A. Kroeger sold 118,235 shares of Maplight Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Monday, May 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.19, for a total value of $3,214,809.65. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,394,094 shares in the company, valued at $37,905,415.86. This trade represents a 7.82% 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 sold 495,244 shares of company stock worth $14,079,461 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.80% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplight Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fcpm Iii Services B.V. purchased a new position in Maplight Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $56,672,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $49,154,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth $34,026,000. Nan Fung Group Holdings Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $17,060,000. Finally, 5AM Venture Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Maplight Therapeutics during the 4th quarter valued at $16,687,000.

Maplight Therapeutics Company Profile

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.