Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR Shares Sold by Clearbridge Investments LLC

Key Points

• Clearbridge Investments cut its Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stake by 46.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 183,093 shares and leaving it with 208,062 shares worth about $13.8 million.
• Several company insiders sold shares recently, including insider James C. Hamilton and CFO Daniel Joseph Apel, for a combined total of 26,065 shares worth about $1.9 million.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed but generally positive: Arrowhead has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $87.80, while recent actions included both upgrades from JPMorgan, RBC, and Morgan Stanley and downgrades from Weiss Ratings and Wall Street Zen.

Clearbridge Investments LLC decreased its position in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR - Free Report) by 46.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 208,062 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 183,093 shares during the quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC owned 0.15% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals worth $13,813,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,347 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $820,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 11,102 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 178 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 133,229 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $8,845,000 after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC acquired a new position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 31,614 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,099,000 after acquiring an additional 430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.61% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 226,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,021,850. This represents a 4.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Daniel Joseph Apel sold 13,095 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.35, for a total value of $934,328.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 162,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,623,271.75. The trade was a 7.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 26,065 shares of company stock worth $1,912,662 in the last quarter. 3.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on ARWR. Weiss Ratings downgraded Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, May 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities 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 given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.80.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ARWR opened at $70.73 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $71.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.41. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.30 and a 12-month high of $82.26. The company has a current ratio of 6.23, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The firm has a market cap of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -32.90 and a beta of 1.28.

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

About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

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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