Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Ascendis Pharma A/S shares reached a new 52-week high of $199.99 after being upgraded from a hold to a buy rating by Wall Street Zen, closing at $193.57.
• Multiple analysts provided optimistic price targets for the stock, with Oppenheimer setting a new target of $224.00 and Wells Fargo increasing theirs to $295.00.
• Ascendis Pharma reported an earnings beat for the last quarter, posting a loss of ($0.93) EPS against a consensus estimate of ($1.42), along with revenue of $216.28 million exceeding expectations.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Get Free Report) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $199.99 and last traded at $193.57, with a volume of 1554046 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $190.35.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on ASND. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $230.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $224.00 price objective (up previously from $215.00) on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Friday, June 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $245.00 to $254.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $212.00 to $254.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $295.00 price objective (up previously from $289.00) on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Friday. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Ascendis Pharma A/S presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $239.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ascendis Pharma A/S

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ASND. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 60.1% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 4,199 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $578,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 94.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 77,427 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $10,659,000 after purchasing an additional 37,593 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 57,077 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $7,858,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 1,577.6% in the 4th quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 17,682 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,433,000 after purchasing an additional 16,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mariner LLC boosted its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 2,160 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 511 shares in the last quarter.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Trading Up 0.0%

The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $174.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.01. The firm has a market cap of $11.98 billion, a PE ratio of -37.98 and a beta of 0.41.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($1.42) by $0.49. The business had revenue of $216.28 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $163.17 million. On average, equities analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company 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.