Bank of America Has Lowered Expectations for Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Stock Price

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) had its price target lowered by Bank of America from $306.00 to $304.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 14.42% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, May 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $355.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $256.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $333.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $328.00 to $326.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $304.95.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 7.2%

Shares of ASND stock traded up $17.78 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $265.69. The company had a trading volume of 642,201 shares, compared to its average volume of 672,751. The company’s fifty day moving average is $255.74 and its 200 day moving average is $239.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 2.99 and a quick ratio of 2.32. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a fifty-two week low of $186.05 and a fifty-two week high of $282.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.57 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61 and a beta of 0.39.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.68). The company had revenue of $387.22 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $376.75 million. Ascendis Pharma A/S had a net margin of 70.99% and a return on equity of 32.54%. Research analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 3.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ascendis Pharma A/S

In other news, Director Jean Jacques Bienaime purchased 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 14th. The shares were bought at an average price of $246.33 per share, with a total value of $492,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,900 shares in the company, valued at approximately $714,357. This represents a 222.22% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 40.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.