Norges Bank Invests $219.74 Million in Avidity Biosciences, Inc. $RNA

Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 3,046,388 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $219,736,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 123.0% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 600 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 22.8% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 856 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC bought a new position in Avidity Biosciences during the fourth quarter worth $72,000. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 75.9% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 1,335 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 507.8% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,398 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 1,168 shares in the last quarter.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. HC Wainwright reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avidity Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Avidity Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e-)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Avidity Biosciences has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.42.

Avidity Biosciences Trading Down 3.4%

Avidity Biosciences stock opened at $12.25 on Wednesday. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. has a 1-year low of $11.95 and a 1-year high of $16.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.46 and a beta of 0.93. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $13.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.32.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.97) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by $0.08. Avidity Biosciences had a negative net margin of 3,650.39% and a negative return on equity of 44.92%. The firm had revenue of $19.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.00 million. On average, research analysts forecast that Avidity Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.89 EPS for the current year.

Avidity Biosciences 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.