Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 57.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 43,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,950 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $9,319,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. AdvisorShares Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorShares Investments LLC now owns 5,716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,219,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Zweig DiMenna Associates LLC purchased a new position in Ascendis Pharma A/S during the fourth quarter valued at $3,305,000. Severin Investments LLC purchased a new position in Ascendis Pharma A/S during the fourth quarter valued at $479,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 68,855 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,683,000 after purchasing an additional 807 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearstead Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 227.7% during the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 2,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $571,000 after purchasing an additional 1,860 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Transactions 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 dated Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total transaction of $4,641,015.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were bought at an average price of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $95,120. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase is available in the SEC filing. 40.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on ASND. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $262.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their target price 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $273.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

Ascendis Pharma A/S stock opened at $216.79 on Thursday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12-month low of $160.86 and a 12-month high of $250.74. The stock has a market cap of $13.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.00 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $233.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $223.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.72 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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.47 million. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 11.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S 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.