Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $205.03 Million Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 12.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 896,397 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 130,010 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $205,033,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of ASND. Cetera Investment Advisers acquired a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the second quarter worth $552,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 66.2% in the 2nd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 3,737 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $645,000 after buying an additional 1,488 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 83.4% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 201,044 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $34,700,000 after buying an additional 91,412 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter valued at about $897,000.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

ASND has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays upped their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, July 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued 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 issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $295.67.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime bought 400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. The trade was a ? increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:ASND opened at $265.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 0.72. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a one year low of $160.86 and a one year high of $282.15. The company has a market cap of $16.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.63 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $241.52 and a 200-day moving average of $231.06.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share 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. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company 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.