Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Saturday.

ASND has been the topic of a number of other reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $275.00 to $280.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $295.67.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of ASND stock opened at $251.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $243.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $232.46. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a twelve month low of $160.86 and a twelve month high of $282.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $15.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.04 and a beta of 0.37.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.47 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,120. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ascendis Pharma A/S

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 95.9% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,798,931 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $357,645,000 after acquiring an additional 880,836 shares during the period. Perceptive Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 450,000 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,026,407 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $218,871,000 after purchasing an additional 232,730 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP boosted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 200.0% during the third quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 600,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $119,286,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 478,641 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $102,065,000 after purchasing an additional 19,301 shares during the period.

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.