117,332 Shares in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND Bought by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 117,332 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,837,000.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime bought 400 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 400 shares in the company, valued at $95,120. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 40.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:ASND opened at $252.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $244.94 and a 200-day moving average of $234.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.72 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07 and a beta of 0.37. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 52 week low of $163.88 and a 52 week high of $282.15.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $285.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.47 million. Analysts predict that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.49 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ASND. Wall Street Zen lowered Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. 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 report on Monday, May 11th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $355.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $296.72.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Profile

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.