Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 25th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.80.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ ARWR opened at $77.91 on Friday. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $14.30 and a 12-month high of $82.26. The stock has a market cap of $10.97 billion, a PE ratio of -36.24 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 6.23, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $69.56 and a 200 day moving average of $64.39.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.10) by $0.17. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 48.38% and a negative return on equity of 55.09%. The company had revenue of $73.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $73.84 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.75 EPS. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals will post -2.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Daniel Joseph Apel sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.35, for a total value of $934,328.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 162,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,623,271.75. This represents a 7.44% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total transaction of $228,333.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,012 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,998,682.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 36,065 shares of company stock valued at $2,554,562 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARWR. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 3,142.5% in the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,081,689 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,797,000 after buying an additional 2,017,489 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $113,159,000. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 497.4% in the 4th quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,832,997 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $121,693,000 after buying an additional 1,526,164 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $64,988,000. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $34,249,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.61% of the company’s stock.

About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. Since its founding in 2008, Arrowhead has leveraged its proprietary delivery platform—known internally as the Advanced RNAi Compound (ARC) technology—to silence disease-causing genes in patients suffering from genetically defined diseases. The company’s approach aims to offer durable, targeted treatments across a range of therapeutic areas.

The company’s pipeline includes multiple candidates in various stages of development.