Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Trading 11.8% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) rose 11.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $243.88 and last traded at $266.0220. Approximately 82,776 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 675,376 shares. The stock had previously closed at $238.01.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on ASND. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $255.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $262.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $329.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $295.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $231.82 and a 200 day moving average of $225.02. The firm has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $285.45 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $362.47 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ascendis Pharma A/S news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total transaction of $4,641,015.40. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 40.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. HighVista Strategies LLC grew its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 138.1% in the third quarter. HighVista Strategies LLC now owns 7,082 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 4,108 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 544,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $108,274,000 after purchasing an additional 13,797 shares during the period. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at $15,693,000. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,110,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,015,919,000 after buying an additional 130,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4,398.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 170,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $33,937,000 after buying an additional 166,906 shares during the period.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

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.