Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ARNA) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARNA) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $58.88.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on ARNA shares. Zacks Investment Research raised Arena Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 9th. BidaskClub cut Arena Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Arena Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 14th. ValuEngine cut Arena Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Co cut their target price on Arena Pharmaceuticals from $53.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 20th.

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In other news, EVP Steven W. Spector sold 30,001 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $34.57, for a total transaction of $1,037,134.57. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,199,267.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.92% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in ARNA. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Arena Pharmaceuticals by 33.9% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,161,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $164,377,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,539 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Arena Pharmaceuticals by 16.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 543,774 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $21,479,000 after purchasing an additional 78,445 shares in the last quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC grew its stake in Arena Pharmaceuticals by 7.3% in the fourth quarter. Teachers Advisors LLC now owns 404,528 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $13,742,000 after purchasing an additional 27,348 shares in the last quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP grew its stake in Arena Pharmaceuticals by 74.4% in the first quarter. Rock Springs Capital Management LP now owns 375,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $14,813,000 after purchasing an additional 160,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Arena Pharmaceuticals by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 351,181 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $11,929,000 after purchasing an additional 12,186 shares in the last quarter. 78.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ARNA stock traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $44.79. 458,913 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 634,473. Arena Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $18.26 and a 52-week high of $50.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 15.28 and a quick ratio of 15.28. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of -17.03 and a beta of 1.46.

Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 8th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.80) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.68) by ($0.12). Arena Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 321.04% and a negative return on equity of 34.08%. The company had revenue of $1.76 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.90) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. equities research analysts expect that Arena Pharmaceuticals will post -2.83 EPS for the current year.

About Arena Pharmaceuticals

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing novel small molecule drugs for various therapeutic areas in the United States and Switzerland. Its proprietary investigational clinical programs include ralinepag (APD811), which is in Phase III trial to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension; etrasimod that is in Phase II trials for treating immune and inflammatory conditions with primary focus on ulcerative colitis and hepatic conditions, as well as for primary biliary cholangitis and pyoderma gangrenosum; and APD371, which is in Phase II trial for the treatment of pain associated with Crohn's disease.