Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) Hits New 12-Month Low at $7.44

Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) hit a new 52-week low on Monday . The company traded as low as $7.44 and last traded at $7.52, with a volume of 173644 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $7.57.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on AVXL shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $54.00 price target on shares of Anavex Life Sciences in a report on Tuesday, August 8th. StockNews.com started coverage on Anavex Life Sciences in a report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “sell” rating for the company.

Anavex Life Sciences Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $608.90 million, a P/E ratio of -11.39 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $8.17 and a 200 day moving average of $8.50.

Anavex Life Sciences (NASDAQ:AVXL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.03. On average, research analysts anticipate that Anavex Life Sciences Corp. will post -0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher U. Missling sold 268,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $7.98, for a total value of $2,138,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,018,210 shares in the company, valued at $8,125,315.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 11.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Anavex Life Sciences

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of AVXL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 24.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,480 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 8,141 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 6.4% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 25,770 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,561 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 58.5% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 36,915 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 13,623 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Anavex Life Sciences by 11.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 68,017 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $837,000 after purchasing an additional 6,906 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Anavex Life Sciences by 1.2% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 5,325,784 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $65,561,000 after buying an additional 63,118 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.79% of the company’s stock.

Anavex Life Sciences Company Profile

Anavex Life Sciences Corp., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of drug candidates for the treatment of central nervous system (CNS) diseases. Its lead drug candidate is ANAVEX 2-73, which is in Phase III clinical trial for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease; Phase III clinical trial to treat pediatric patients with Rett syndrome; Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of Parkinson's disease; and preclinical clinical trials to treat epilepsy, infantile spasms, Fragile X syndrome, Angelman syndrome, multiple sclerosis, and tuberous sclerosis complex.