Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Short Interest Update

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) saw a significant decline in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,721,179 shares, a decline of 39.2% from the April 30th total of 2,832,689 shares. Approximately 4.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 623,378 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total transaction of $4,641,015.40. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ascendis Pharma A/S

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $552,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.0% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $249,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 66.2% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $645,000 after acquiring an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 83.4% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 201,044 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,700,000 after acquiring an additional 91,412 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 2nd quarter worth $897,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $290.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $262.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $295.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

ASND traded up $0.93 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $217.53. The stock had a trading volume of 18,367 shares, compared to its average volume of 680,510. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09 and a beta of 0.39. 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 has a twelve month low of $160.86 and a twelve month high of $250.74. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $233.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $223.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $285.45 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.47 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 11.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.