J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Sells 13,743 Shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lessened its position in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN) by 19.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,472 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 13,743 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG’s holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical were worth $3,646,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in the fourth quarter valued at about $234,645,000. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 12,991,772 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $853,944,000 after acquiring an additional 2,496,817 shares during the period. Dodge & Cox raised its stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 14,746,235 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $969,270,000 after purchasing an additional 847,917 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical in the 4th quarter valued at about $44,735,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 461.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 611,667 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $40,205,000 after purchasing an additional 502,695 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.71% of the company’s stock.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Stock Down 0.9 %

BioMarin Pharmaceutical stock opened at $58.65 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 5.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a PE ratio of 26.66, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.59 and its 200 day moving average is $66.16. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has a 12-month low of $52.93 and a 12-month high of $94.85.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:BMRN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $747.31 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $711.05 million. BioMarin Pharmaceutical had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 9.91%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Erin Burkhart sold 1,344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.38, for a total transaction of $91,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,119.90. This represents a 9.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.85% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on BMRN. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $90.00 price target on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $78.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America raised their price target on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $98.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Profile

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc develops and commercializes therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. Its commercial products include Vimizim, an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IV type A, a lysosomal storage disorder; Naglazyme, a recombinant form of N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase for patients with MPS VI; and Kuvan, a proprietary synthetic oral form of 6R-BH4 that is used to treat patients with phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disease.