Sector Gamma AS Trims Stock Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Sector Gamma AS cut its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 16,305 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 8,022 shares during the quarter. Sector Gamma AS’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $3,477,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. MIdWestOne Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $654,000. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 36,697 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,825,000 after buying an additional 620 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 75.2% during the 4th quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 226 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 169.9% during the 4th quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 4,496 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $959,000 after buying an additional 2,830 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 43.4% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 14,131 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,013,000 after buying an additional 4,277 shares in the last quarter.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

ASND stock opened at $215.60 on Friday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 52-week low of $160.86 and a 52-week high of $250.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $232.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $223.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87 and a beta of 0.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.47 million. Equities research analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 14.14 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on ASND shares. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $273.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $332.00 target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $262.00 to $292.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ascendis Pharma A/S currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.39.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime acquired 400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director directly owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. This trade represents a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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. 40.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.