Janus Henderson Group PLC Sells 261,418 Shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,061,641 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 261,418 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 0.07% of Ascendis Pharma A/S worth $866,104,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Eversept Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $10,287,000. Cormorant Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,324,000. Artia Global Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. Artia Global Partners LP now owns 17,740 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,783,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,135,000. Finally, Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 26.9% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 6,734 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,428 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Activity at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime acquired 400 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $237.80 per share, for a total transaction of $95,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 400 shares in the company, valued at approximately $95,120. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Flemming Steen Jensen sold 19,460 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $238.49, for a total value of $4,641,015.40. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 40.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

Ascendis Pharma A/S stock opened at $231.15 on Thursday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12 month low of $160.86 and a 12 month high of $250.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $232.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $224.09. The company has a market cap of $14.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.66 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 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $285.45 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $362.47 million. Sell-side analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 14.25 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on ASND shares. Wall Street Zen raised Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $330.00 to $326.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $332.00 target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $262.00 to $292.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, Ascendis Pharma A/S has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $295.39.

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.