Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR)

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARWR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Leerink Partners raised their target price on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.27.

Insider Transactions at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 226,958 shares in the company, valued at $17,021,850. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total transaction of $228,333.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,012 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,998,682.56. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 26,065 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,662 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of ARWR. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 285.1% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the period. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 80.6% during the 2nd quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 345 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC bought a new position in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 83.8% in the 1st quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 408 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Corp purchased a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. 62.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of ARWR traded down $2.65 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $73.75. 498,122 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,463,713. The company has a current ratio of 6.23, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.39. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $14.30 and a 52 week high of $87.83. The company has a market cap of $10.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -34.29 and a beta of 1.26.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $73.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $73.84 million. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 48.38% and a negative return on equity of 55.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.75 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals will post -3 EPS for the current year.

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.