Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

ASND has been the subject of several other reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Thursday, September 10th. Raymond James Financial lowered Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $287.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, September 15th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $304.00 to $312.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Weiss Ratings raised Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “sell (d)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $328.00 to $326.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $310.75.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 2.0%

ASND opened at $230.05 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.99, a quick ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12 month low of $186.05 and a 12 month high of $282.15. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $251.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $242.21.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last released its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.71 by ($0.68). Ascendis Pharma A/S had a return on equity of 32.54% and a net margin of 70.99%.The firm had revenue of $387.22 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $376.75 million. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 3.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jean-Jacques Bienaimé acquired 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 14th. The stock was bought at an average price of $246.33 per share, for a total transaction of $492,660.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 2,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $714,357. The trade was a 222.22% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Mads Bodenhoff sold 3,000 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $270.19, for a total value of $810,570.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 3,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $810,570. This represents a 50.00% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 40.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Personal CFO Solutions LLC raised its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Personal CFO Solutions LLC now owns 1,519 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $347,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 34.0% during the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 272 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Main Management ETF Advisors LLC now owns 10,962 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,338,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 103.4% in the second quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 240 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 19,862 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,235,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company Profile

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for rare diseases. The company uses its proprietary TransCon technology platform to design long-acting medicines intended to improve the effectiveness, convenience, and tolerability of established treatments.

Ascendis’ marketed products include Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin-tcgd), a long-acting growth hormone approved for the treatment of growth hormone deficiency in children, and Yorvipath (palopegteriparatide), a hormone replacement therapy for adults with hypoparathyroidism.