Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Citigroup

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Citigroup to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on ASND. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Wedbush reaffirmed 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. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $290.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. 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.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of ASND stock opened at $237.96 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $14.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45 and a beta of 0.41. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a one year low of $153.49 and a one year high of $250.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $232.12 and its 200-day moving average price is $221.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.72.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.47 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 12.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction on 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 40.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ascendis Pharma A/S

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ASND. Cetera Investment Advisers purchased a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter worth $552,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew 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 worth $249,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 66.2% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 201,044 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,700,000 after buying an additional 91,412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter worth $897,000.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company 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.