Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) Price Target Raised to $72.00 at Leerink Partners

Key Points

• Leerink Partners raised its price target on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to $72 from $61 while keeping a market perform rating, implying downside from the current share price.
• Analyst views remain mixed overall: recent reports include upgrades from RBC, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley, while other firms downgraded the stock. MarketBeat shows an average rating of Moderate Buy with an average target price of $86.36.
• The stock was trading around $79.02 on the day, near its 52-week high of $82.26; Arrowhead also reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss, though revenue fell sharply year over year.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Leerink Partners from $61.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a "market perform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Leerink Partners' price target indicates a potential downside of 8.88% from the stock's current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also issued reports on ARWR. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $100.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $86.36.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of ARWR stock traded up $2.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $79.02. 226,066 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,354,929. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $73.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a current ratio of 6.23. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $14.30 and a 12-month high of $82.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.75 and a beta of 1.28.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.10) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $73.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.84 million. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 55.09% and a negative net margin of 48.38%.The business's revenue was down 86.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.75 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals will post -3 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 226,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $17,021,850. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total value of $228,333.60. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 52,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,998,682.56. This represents a 5.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,065 shares of company stock worth $1,912,662. Company insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,035,870 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $553,077,000 after purchasing an additional 510,798 shares during the period. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% during the third quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,900,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $375,941,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,264,963 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $216,799,000 after buying an additional 133,921 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP increased its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,175,645 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $144,441,000 after buying an additional 504,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its position in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,087,953 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $138,619,000 after acquiring an additional 6,264 shares during the period. 62.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics. Since its founding in 2008, Arrowhead has leveraged its proprietary delivery platform—known internally as the Advanced RNAi Compound (ARC) technology—to silence disease-causing genes in patients suffering from genetically defined diseases. The company's approach aims to offer durable, targeted treatments across a range of therapeutic areas.

The company's pipeline includes multiple candidates in various stages of development.

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