Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 42.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 228,675 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 165,930 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $52,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of ASND. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 95.9% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,798,931 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $357,645,000 after acquiring an additional 880,836 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,026,407 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $218,871,000 after purchasing an additional 232,730 shares during the last quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 2nd quarter valued at $166,367,000. Vestal Point Capital LP lifted its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 200.0% in the third quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 600,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $119,286,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 478,641 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $102,065,000 after buying an additional 19,301 shares during the period.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In related news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 40.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

Ascendis Pharma A/S stock opened at $252.66 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $15.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14 and a beta of 0.37. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 1-year low of $160.86 and a 1-year high of $282.15. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $243.81 and a 200-day moving average of $233.31.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.47 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.