Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on ASND. HC Wainwright set a $344.00 target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial cut Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Tuesday, September 15th. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Thursday, September 10th. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $344.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $280.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $313.21.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

ASND stock opened at $227.00 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 2.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $246.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $242.39. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a fifty-two week low of $186.05 and a fifty-two week high of $282.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.16 billion, a PE ratio of 17.61 and a beta of 0.38.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.68). The firm had revenue of $387.22 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.75 million. Ascendis Pharma A/S had a return on equity of 32.54% and a net margin of 70.99%. Analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 3.55 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, Director Jean-Jacques Bienaimé bought 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $246.33 per share, for a total transaction of $492,660.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,357. The trade was a 222.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Mads Bodenhoff sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.19, for a total transaction of $810,570.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 3,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $810,570. The trade was a 50.00% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 40.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASND. Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 41.6% during the first quarter. Perceptive Advisors LLC now owns 1,531,421 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $350,282,000 after acquiring an additional 450,000 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC grew its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 106.3% in the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 352,109 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $75,084,000 after acquiring an additional 181,408 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 24.8% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 351,146 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $80,318,000 after acquiring an additional 69,673 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA increased its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 243.0% in the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 251,833 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $56,907,000 after acquiring an additional 178,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. increased its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 23.2% in the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 230,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $52,671,000 after acquiring an additional 43,338 shares in the last quarter.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company Profile

Ascendis Pharma A/S is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for rare diseases, particularly in endocrinology. The company uses its proprietary TransCon technology platform to design medicines intended to provide sustained release of therapeutic compounds and potentially improve treatment convenience and patient outcomes.

Ascendis Pharma’s marketed products include Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin-tcgb), a once-weekly growth hormone treatment for children with growth hormone deficiency, and Yorvipath (palopegteriparatide), a parathyroid hormone replacement therapy for adults with hypoparathyroidism.