Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR Shares Sold by Avoro Capital Advisors LLC

Key Points

• Avoro Capital Advisors trimmed its Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stake by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 275,000 shares and leaving it with 10.625 million shares worth about $705.4 million.
• Insiders have also been selling, including Director Hongbo Lu and insider James C. Hamilton, with total insider sales of 26,065 shares valued at about $1.91 million over the last three months.
• Analysts remain mixed but constructive overall: the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy” with a $87.80 price target, even as some firms recently downgraded the stock. Arrowhead also beat earnings estimates in its latest quarter, though revenue fell sharply year over year.

Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,625,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 275,000 shares during the period. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals makes up 6.8% of Avoro Capital Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC owned about 7.59% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals worth $705,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,035,870 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $553,077,000 after buying an additional 510,798 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,264,963 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $216,799,000 after buying an additional 133,921 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,087,953 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $138,619,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 34.6% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,741,666 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $22,189,000 after buying an additional 447,456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $113,159,000. 62.61% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total transaction of $228,333.60. Following 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 226,958 shares in the company, valued at $17,021,850. This trade represents a 4.22% 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. Insiders have sold 26,065 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,662 over the last three months. 3.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ARWR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. 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. initiated coverage on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $88.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $87.80.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ARWR opened at $76.55 on Wednesday. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a one year low of $14.30 and a one year high of $82.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a current ratio of 6.23 and a quick ratio of 6.23. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $73.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.78 billion, a P/E ratio of -35.60 and a beta of 1.28.

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

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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