Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Avidity Biosciences, Inc. $RNA

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 6,040,590 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $435,708,000. Avidity Biosciences comprises about 0.6% of Balyasny Asset Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 22.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 856 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 0.6% during the third quarter. Fort Point Capital Partners LLC now owns 31,278 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,363,000 after acquiring an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 2,961 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $214,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,471 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $178,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 426.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 490 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares during the last quarter.

Avidity Biosciences Stock Performance

Avidity Biosciences stock opened at $12.48 on Thursday. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $11.40 and a fifty-two week high of $16.77. The company has a market capitalization of $213.48 million, a P/E ratio of -2.51 and a beta of 0.93. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $13.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.35.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.05) by $0.08. Avidity Biosciences had a negative return on equity of 44.92% and a negative net margin of 3,650.39%.The business had revenue of $19.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.00 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Avidity Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Avidity Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Avidity Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.25.

Avidity Biosciences Company Profile

Avidity Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) therapies designed to address serious neuromuscular and cardiac diseases. The company’s proprietary AOC platform combines the targeting specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the gene-modulating power of oligonucleotides to deliver therapeutic agents directly into muscle cells. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, Avidity seeks to overcome traditional delivery challenges associated with RNA-based medicines by leveraging receptor-mediated uptake mechanisms.

The company’s lead product candidate, AOC 1001, is in clinical development for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and represents the first application of the AOC platform in a human study.