Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eighteen ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $70.2941.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RNA. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut Avidity Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised Avidity Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Leerink Partners began coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a report on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avidity Biosciences

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RNA. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 38.2% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 44,304 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,308,000 after acquiring an additional 12,241 shares during the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 22.7% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 23,837 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $704,000 after acquiring an additional 4,410 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 2.8% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 784,704 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,164,000 after buying an additional 21,649 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its position in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 7.6% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 357,718 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,560,000 after buying an additional 25,329 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio purchased a new position in shares of Avidity Biosciences during the first quarter worth $180,000.

Avidity Biosciences Price Performance

NASDAQ:RNA opened at $11.67 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $13.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.42. Avidity Biosciences has a 1 year low of $11.45 and a 1 year high of $16.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.35 and a beta of 0.93.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.97) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.00 million. As a group, analysts expect that Avidity Biosciences will post -2.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.