Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. $HALO Shares Sold by Verity Asset Management Inc.

Verity Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:HALO) by 11.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 49,295 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after selling 6,213 shares during the quarter. Halozyme Therapeutics accounts for approximately 2.1% of Verity Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Halozyme Therapeutics were worth $5,442,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of HALO. MidFirst Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $30,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics by 98.0% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 303 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Halozyme Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. 97.79% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Halozyme Therapeutics Trading Up 1.3%

NASDAQ:HALO opened at $130.34 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $114.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.31. The stock has a market cap of $14.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.91, a P/E/G ratio of 0.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.50. Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.22 and a 12 month high of $134.00.

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.79 by $0.49. Halozyme Therapeutics had a net margin of 24.86% and a return on equity of 260.98%. The company had revenue of $481.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $402.28 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.54 earnings per share. Halozyme Therapeutics’s quarterly revenue was up 47.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. will post 8.32 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Halozyme Therapeutics news, CEO Helen Torley sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $2,188,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 767,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,995,132. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Matthew L. Posard sold 5,230 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total value of $567,664.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 53,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,818,720.86. This represents a 8.89% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 125,852 shares of company stock worth $13,538,046 over the last three months. Company insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HALO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HC Wainwright upped their price target on Halozyme Therapeutics from $115.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 7th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Halozyme Therapeutics from $75.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings raised Halozyme Therapeutics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Halozyme Therapeutics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $99.64.

About Halozyme Therapeutics

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing drug-delivery technologies that can improve the administration of injectable medicines. The company’s primary platform, ENHANZE, uses a proprietary recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme to facilitate the subcutaneous delivery of biologic drugs and other injectable therapies that may otherwise require intravenous infusion.

Halozyme licenses its technologies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which use them in a range of marketed and investigational products.