abrdn plc Makes New Investment in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

abrdn plc bought a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 138,791 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $17,481,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,264,470 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $118,405,000 after purchasing an additional 176,948 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP increased its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.7% in the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,802,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $356,036,000 after buying an additional 170,465 shares during the last quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 9.8% in the third quarter. TimesSquare Capital Management LLC now owns 842,801 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $78,920,000 after acquiring an additional 75,374 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 672,126 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $62,938,000 after acquiring an additional 57,413 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 30.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 159,434 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,929,000 after acquiring an additional 37,363 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASND has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $196.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 15th. Citigroup increased their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $146.00 to $182.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday. Wedbush raised their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $207.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 8th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $173.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ascendis Pharma A/S has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.25.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

ASND stock opened at $143.18 on Thursday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 1 year low of $66.03 and a 1 year high of $161.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.48 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $149.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $125.48.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.66) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.15) by $0.49. The firm had revenue of $148.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.02 million. Ascendis Pharma A/S had a negative net margin of 180.61% and a negative return on equity of 16,574.15%. As a group, analysts predict that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Profile

Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates.