Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND Shares Bought by Affinity Asset Advisors LLC

Affinity Asset Advisors LLC raised its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 216.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 95,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the quarter. Ascendis Pharma A/S makes up approximately 1.1% of Affinity Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Affinity Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $21,729,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 57.5% during the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 43,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,319,000 after acquiring an additional 15,950 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 23.2% during the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 230,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,671,000 after buying an additional 43,338 shares in the last quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. raised its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Braun Stacey Associates Inc. now owns 119,095 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $25,396,000 after purchasing an additional 25,148 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 57.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 308,190 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $65,718,000 after buying an additional 112,986 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,384,000.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 400 shares in the company, valued at $95,120. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ASND opened at $253.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.28 and a beta of 0.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $244.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $233.45. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a one year low of $160.86 and a one year high of $282.15. 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.47 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ASND has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Citigroup assumed coverage on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $355.00 price objective for the company. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $296.72.

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.