Baillie Gifford & Co. Trims Holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

Baillie Gifford & Co. decreased its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) by 0.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,206 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 464 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. owned about 0.14% of Ascendis Pharma A/S worth $12,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 37.6% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 52.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 90.4% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 318 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 16,384 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,064,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 13,989 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,762,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on ASND. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Friday, May 31st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $200.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $116.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 16th. StockNews.com raised Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen raised Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $156.00 to $175.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ascendis Pharma A/S presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $179.00.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 1.2 %

ASND traded up $1.63 on Friday, hitting $135.81. 107,293 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 257,441. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a twelve month low of $85.29 and a twelve month high of $161.00. The company has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -14.13 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $131.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $138.15.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The biotechnology company reported ($2.48) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.57) by ($0.91). Ascendis Pharma A/S had a negative return on equity of 16,574.15% and a negative net margin of 152.68%. The company had revenue of $103.11 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $85.72 million. Equities analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -5.57 EPS for the current year.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

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.