Vestcor Inc Buys New Shares in Avidity Biosciences, Inc. $RNA

Vestcor Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 200,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,426,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RNA. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 42.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 13,219,759 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $575,985,000 after acquiring an additional 3,971,457 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Avidity Biosciences during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,736,000. Bellevue Group AG acquired a new position in Avidity Biosciences in the 3rd quarter worth $93,800,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Avidity Biosciences by 118.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,776,785 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $272,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,044,316 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RA Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 18.9% during the third quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 8,641,031 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $376,490,000 after buying an additional 1,375,000 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RNA has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Avidity Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Weiss Ratings cut Avidity Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e-)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 22nd. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Friday, May 15th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Friday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $69.42.

Avidity Biosciences Price Performance

RNA stock opened at $11.80 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $13.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $201.85 million, a P/E ratio of -2.37 and a beta of 0.93. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. has a 52-week low of $11.77 and a 52-week high of $16.77.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 44.92% and a negative net margin of 3,650.39%.The business had revenue of $19.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.00 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Avidity Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Avidity Biosciences Company 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.