Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:ARWR)

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders bought 1,813 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 32% compared to the typical volume of 1,375 put options.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.0%

ARWR stock opened at $71.91 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 6.23 and a quick ratio of 6.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a P/E ratio of -33.45 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a 50-day moving average of $77.86 and a 200-day moving average of $69.43. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $14.30 and a fifty-two week high of $87.83.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $73.74 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $73.84 million. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 55.09% and a negative net margin of 48.38%.Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals will post -3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total value of $228,333.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,012 shares in the company, valued at $3,998,682.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Daniel Joseph Apel sold 13,095 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,065 shares of company stock worth $1,912,662. Insiders own 3.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ARWR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,264,963 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $216,799,000 after purchasing an additional 133,921 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,175,645 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $144,441,000 after buying an additional 504,883 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,087,953 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $138,619,000 after acquiring an additional 6,264 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,526,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 34.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,741,666 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $22,189,000 after acquiring an additional 447,456 shares during the last quarter. 62.61% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ARWR shares. Weiss Ratings lowered Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $88.17.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.