Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Trading 9.4% Higher After Insider Buying Activity

Overall the pharmaceutical industry is experiencing a broad secular downturn thanks in large part to the furor that erupted in Turing Pharaceutical’s Martin Shkreli refused to reduce the price of Daraprim, a drug that has been around for 57 years, and that Shkreli’s firm bumped the price by 5,000 percent to $750 a pill. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,532 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,820,611.20.

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE:VRX) opened at 109.87 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.23 and its 200-day moving average is $220.62. For that matter, the entire healthcare sector had become inflated to the point that in the April 17 issue of PF we printed a list of 12 other medical companies – “The Dirty Dozen of Healthcare Stocks’ – that were overvalued and at risk of getting slammed”. The value of that stake sunk to about US$1.11 billion as of close of markets on Thursday.

Valeant shares have lost more than a quarter of their value since Citron published its report on Wednesday. The specialty pharmaceutical company reported $2.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $2.68 by $0.06.

Probes Reporter, an independent investment research firm that focuses on public company interactions with regulatory agencies, said in a report on Friday that it now expects Valeant to face an “array of protracted, distracting, and expensive investigations”. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.06 billion. The company fell -5.33% after overall traded volume of 4.70 million shares with market capitalization of 35.18 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.58 earnings per share.

“We don’t see the facts and reasoning in the research report as supporting evidence of the allegations of falsified invoices or channel stuffing”, credit analyst David Kaplan wrote in a report. TD Securities boosted their price target on Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl from $280.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Analysts anticipate that Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl will post $2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. RBC Capital restated a buy rating on shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl in a report on Tuesday, July 21st.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) has since issued a statement refuting the allegations claiming they are only meant to manipulate the market. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl presently has an average rating of Buy and an average price target of $232.38.

The next page will discuss the insider buying activity at other two companies. Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square was the top shareholder of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc. The Company’s developed markets segment includes sales in the United States of OTC goods, pharmaceutical goods, and medical device products. The Company’s Emerging Markets section consists of branded generic pharmaceutical products and branded pharmaceuticals, OTC goods, and medical device products.