Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND Shares Sold by Candriam S.C.A.

Candriam S.C.A. lowered its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 8.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 178,956 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 16,159 shares during the quarter. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $35,578,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of ASND. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 200,257 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $34,444,000 after purchasing an additional 10,644 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 144.7% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 9,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,732 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the second quarter worth about $209,000. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 83.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,730 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,751,000 after buying an additional 9,879 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on ASND. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Friday, October 17th. They set a “strong-buy” rating and a $271.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $254.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. They issued a “peer perform” rating and a $255.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $270.76.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

NASDAQ ASND opened at $222.03 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $213.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $203.87. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12 month low of $118.03 and a 12 month high of $242.00. The company has a market capitalization of $13.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.01 and a beta of 0.44.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.17) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by ($0.76). The business had revenue of $250.71 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $246.91 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.34 earnings per share for the current 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.