Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Has $739.75 Million Stock Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lowered its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,720,880 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 269,544 shares during the quarter. Ascendis Pharma A/S makes up approximately 1.0% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned about 6.03% of Ascendis Pharma A/S worth $739,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Perceptive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 2nd quarter valued at about $166,367,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2,722.9% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 793,677 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $157,791,000 after buying an additional 765,561 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 40.4% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 459,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $79,328,000 after acquiring an additional 132,201 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 425.5% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 117,162 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,222,000 after acquiring an additional 94,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Braun Stacey Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the third quarter valued at approximately $18,678,000.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

NASDAQ:ASND opened at $228.99 on Friday. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a one year low of $124.06 and a one year high of $242.00. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $218.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $207.88. The stock has a market cap of $14.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -52.04 and a beta of 0.44.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.64) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by ($0.58). The business had revenue of $290.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $285.35 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.34 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on ASND. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $322.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $256.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $325.00 target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $245.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $284.00.

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.