Citigroup Begins Coverage on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY)

Key Points

• Citigroup initiated coverage on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals with a buy rating and a $380 price target, implying about 32.7% upside from the prior close.
• Alnylam recently delivered strong quarterly results, posting $1.99 EPS versus the $0.87 estimate and $1.17 billion in revenue, which was up 96.4% year over year.
• The stock was trading near $286.27, close to its 52-week low, while analysts overall maintained a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target of $463.13.

Investment analysts at Citigroup started coverage on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Tuesday. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $380.00 price target on the biopharmaceutical company's stock. Citigroup's price target would suggest a potential upside of 32.74% from the company's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on ALNY. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $450.00 to $445.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $330.00 price objective (down from $522.00) on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, March 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. 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. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $463.13.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ ALNY opened at $286.27 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $363.40. The company has a quick ratio of 3.06, a current ratio of 3.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $284.19 and a 52 week high of $495.55. The company has a market cap of $38.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 78.22 and a beta of 0.31.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.99 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.87 by $1.12. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 11.72% and a return on equity of 85.76%. The business had revenue of $1.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.44) EPS. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 96.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals will post 7.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Yvonne Greenstreet sold 6,799 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.65, for a total transaction of $2,227,692.35. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 98,628 shares in the company, valued at $32,315,464.20. The trade was a 6.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Tolga Tanguler sold 1,598 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.65, for a total value of $523,584.70. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 36,606 shares in the company, valued at $11,993,955.90. This trade represents a 4.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 21,255 shares of company stock valued at $6,930,337. Corporate insiders own 0.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of ALNY. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its position in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 160.4% during the third quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 4,032,082 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $18,610,000 after purchasing an additional 2,483,697 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $895,816,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 698.8% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,355,609 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $618,158,000 after buying an additional 1,185,909 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth about $369,943,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 295.2% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 744,008 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $336,009,000 after purchasing an additional 555,759 shares in the last quarter. 92.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.