Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Takes Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 93,947 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,678,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 144.7% in the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 9,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 425.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 117,162 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,222,000 after buying an additional 94,868 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 2nd quarter valued at $897,000. Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 1st quarter worth $273,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 585,581 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $91,269,000 after buying an additional 55,164 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on ASND shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $260.00 to $264.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 9th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $254.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating and a $255.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $256.73.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

NASDAQ ASND opened at $213.24 on Friday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 1-year low of $118.03 and a 1-year high of $229.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $206.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.21 billion, a PE ratio of -48.03 and a beta of 0.46.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.17) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.41) by ($0.76). The firm had revenue of $250.71 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $246.91 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

Ascendis Pharma A/S is a Denmark‐based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies for rare endocrine diseases. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hellerup, the company leverages its proprietary TransCon drug delivery platform to create long‐acting prodrugs designed to improve safety, efficacy and patient convenience. Ascendis Pharma maintains research and development operations in Europe and the United States, with clinical studies spanning North America, Europe and Asia.

The company’s lead product, lonapegsomatropin (Skytrofa®), is a once‐weekly growth hormone therapy approved by the U.S.