Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s hedge fund, Baker Bros. Advisors, has recently tweaked its holdings in ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) and Synageva Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:TRMS). According to a filing with the SEC, Baker Bros. Advisors now owns 20.48 million shares of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, versus 19.96 million shares held at the end of the fourth quarter. The current stake amasses 21.0% of the ACADIA’s common stock.
The stake has been upped under a public offering of common stock, the fund purchasing around 526,300 shares. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD) conducted a public offering of 6.4 million shares at a price of $28.50 per share. A 30-day option to purchase up to 960,000 shares of common stock of ACADIA has also been granted to the underwriters. The net proceeds from the offering, which are expected to amount to $182.4 million will be used to fund ongoing and new clinical trials, in the development and commercialization efforts for pimavanserin, for its other product candidates and for general corporate purposes.
Baker Bros. also revealed holding warrants for acquisition of common stock of ACADIA, which if exercised, will result in an aggregate of almost 2.0 million shares.
Dr. Stephen R. Biggar an employee of Baker Bros. serves on the Board of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD). Mr. Biggar holds 12,500 options to purchase common stock of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals at a price of $17.01 per share expiring June 7, 2023. Stephen Biggar might also get additional securities as compensation for his service on the Board.
Of all the hedge funds we track, Baker Bros. Advisors is the largest shareholder of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD). Peter Kolchinsky’s Ra Capital Management, is also long ACADIA and holds 1.17 million shares, with a reported value of $29.24 million.
In a separate filing Baker Bros. Advisors revealed that it purchased 375,000 shares of Synageva Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:TRMS) at a price of $105.75 per share and now holds around 8.2 million shares.
Synageva Biopharma Corp (NASDAQ:TRMS) has also recently announced a public offering of 2.0 million shares at a price of $105.75 per share. Morever, the company has granted a 30-day option to the underwriters to purchase an additional 300,000 shares of common stock.
Baker Bros. focuses on biotechnology companies. A couple of months ago, Baker Bros. Advisors trimmed its stake in MEI Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:MEIP) to 746,500 shares, from 1,130,317 shares held earlier. Earlier in January, Baker Bros. also revealed owning 13.84 million shares of Genomic Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GHDX), of which it received 4,100 shares against director retainer fees of $10,000
Baker Bros. Advisors has 12.99% of its equity portfolio invested in Pharmacyclics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCYC) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, the stake amassing 8.72 million shares worth $922.32 million. The second largest holding of Baker Bros. is Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN), a company that focuses on the development and commercialization of monoclonal antibody-based therapies for cancer, in which the fund owns around 20.7 million shares.
Disclosure: none
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