Westfield Capital Management Co. LP Acquires New Holdings in Avidity Biosciences, Inc. $RNA

Westfield Capital Management Co. LP bought a new stake in Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 471,127 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $33,982,000. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP owned approximately 0.30% of Avidity Biosciences at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Avidity Biosciences by 55.0% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 899,557 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $39,194,000 after acquiring an additional 319,282 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A. increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 10.2% during the 3rd quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 487,917 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,259,000 after purchasing an additional 45,144 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 173.2% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 179,103 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,804,000 after purchasing an additional 113,545 shares during the period. Aberdeen Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 304,828 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,281,000 after purchasing an additional 25,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allianz Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Avidity Biosciences in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $632,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RNA. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Avidity Biosciences from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Avidity Biosciences from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e-)” rating in a report on Friday, May 22nd. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Friday, May 15th. They issued an “outperform” rating for the company. One investment 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avidity Biosciences presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.42.

Avidity Biosciences Trading Down 4.1%

Shares of RNA opened at $11.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $201.85 million, a PE ratio of -2.37 and a beta of 0.93. Avidity Biosciences, Inc. has a 12 month low of $11.77 and a 12 month high of $16.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $13.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $43.86.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.97) EPS 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 company had revenue of $19.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.00 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Avidity Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.89 EPS for the current year.

About Avidity Biosciences

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.