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

Shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) rose 11.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $243.88 and last traded at $266.0220. 82,776 shares were traded 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

ASND has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Monday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $255.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $342.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $295.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 8.0%

The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $231.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $225.02. The company has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.65 and a beta of 0.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $285.45 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $362.47 million. Research analysts predict that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the company’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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime bought 400 shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was bought at an average price of $237.80 per share, with a total value of $95,120.00. Following the purchase, the director owned 400 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $95,120. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. Insiders own 40.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ascendis Pharma A/S

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Perceptive Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $166,367,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 95.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,798,931 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $357,645,000 after buying an additional 880,836 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 200.0% during the third quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 600,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $119,286,000 after purchasing an additional 400,000 shares during the last quarter. Spyglass Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 3rd quarter valued at $77,267,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,026,407 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $218,871,000 after acquiring an additional 232,730 shares during the last quarter.

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.