HighVista Strategies LLC Buys 125,171 Shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $AGIO

HighVista Strategies LLC increased its stake in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AGIO) by 178.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 195,298 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after buying an additional 125,171 shares during the quarter. Agios Pharmaceuticals comprises approximately 1.9% of HighVista Strategies LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. HighVista Strategies LLC owned 0.33% of Agios Pharmaceuticals worth $7,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in AGIO. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 485.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,471,416 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $99,203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,049,287 shares during the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in Agios Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,182,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Agios Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $19,889,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals by 18.8% in the third quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,764,900 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $108,578,000 after purchasing an additional 438,411 shares during the period. Finally, SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $10,556,000.

Agios Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ AGIO opened at $27.85 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.92 and a beta of 0.89. Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.24 and a 52-week high of $46.00.

Insider Activity at Agios Pharmaceuticals

In other Agios Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Brian Goff sold 18,703 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total transaction of $506,664.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 136,583 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,700,033.47. The trade was a 12.04% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Cecilia Jones sold 2,932 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.09, for a total value of $79,427.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 37,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,013,003.46. This trade represents a 7.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 36,262 shares of company stock worth $984,237. Insiders own 4.93% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered Agios Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $57.00 to $28.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 19th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Agios Pharmaceuticals from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.67.

About Agios Pharmaceuticals

Agios Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2008 as a spin-out from research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Agios focuses on understanding and targeting cellular metabolism to develop novel therapies for cancer and rare genetic diseases. The company’s scientific platform integrates genomic discovery, metabolic profiling and precision medicine approaches to identify and advance small-molecule candidates that correct or exploit metabolic dysfunction.

Agios’s lead products are IDH (isocitrate dehydrogenase) inhibitors that target specific cancer mutations.