Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) Shares Gap Up - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares gapped up sharply on Thursday, opening at $378.49 after closing at $323.50 the prior day and later trading around $360.44.
• Recent earnings were strong, with the company reporting $1.99 EPS versus the $0.87 consensus estimate and revenue of $1.17 billion, up 96.4% year over year.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $461.39, despite some mixed individual rating changes.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $323.50, but opened at $378.49. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $360.4360, with a volume of 1,583,015 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ALNY shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $330.00 price objective (down from $522.00) on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, March 16th. Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $445.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $376.00 to $377.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $461.39.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $46.40 billion, a PE ratio of 94.77 and a beta of 0.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 3.06 and a current ratio of 3.13. The firm's 50 day moving average is $296.11 and its 200-day moving average is $326.31.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $1.12. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 85.76% and a net margin of 11.72%.The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.12 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.44) EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 96.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alnylam Pharmaceuticals news, Director David E. I. Pyott sold 3,830 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.18, for a total value of $1,145,859.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,582 shares in the company, valued at $473,302.76. This represents a 70.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Company insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Groupama Asset Managment increased its position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 160.4% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,032,082 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $18,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,483,697 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,650,722 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,056,884,000 after buying an additional 151,480 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $895,816,000. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Orbis Allan Gray Ltd now owns 2,121,412 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $691,771,000 after buying an additional 486,489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 698.8% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,355,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $618,158,000 after buying an additional 1,185,909 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.97% of the company's stock.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc NASDAQ: ALNY is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. Founded to translate the scientific discovery of RNAi into new medicines, Alnylam applies small interfering RNA (siRNA) technology to silence disease-causing genes. The company develops therapies designed to provide durable disease modification by targeting underlying genetic drivers across a range of rare and more prevalent conditions.

Alnylam has advanced multiple siRNA-based products into commercialization, initially using lipid nanoparticle delivery and more recently employing GalNAc-conjugate chemistry to enable targeted delivery to the liver with subcutaneous dosing.

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