Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND Stake Raised by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 20.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 209,456 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 34,845 shares during the quarter. Ascendis Pharma A/S accounts for 2.5% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $47,909,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of ASND. HighVista Strategies LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 138.1% during the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,082 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,108 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.6% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 544,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $108,274,000 after purchasing an additional 13,797 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $15,693,000. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,110,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,919,000 after buying an additional 130,000 shares during the period. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4,398.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 170,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,937,000 after buying an additional 166,906 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total transaction of $4,641,015.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400 shares in the company, valued at $95,120. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ASND opened at $230.83 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $232.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $224.27. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 52 week low of $160.86 and a 52 week high of $250.74. The company has a market capitalization of $14.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.62 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.47 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASND has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $332.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Profile

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.