MetLife Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR

Key Points

• MetLife Investment Management LLC dramatically reduced its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 49.0%, selling 69,048 shares and owning 71,963 shares valued at approximately $917,000.
• During the same quarter, multiple hedge funds showed increased investment in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, with Principal Financial Group Inc. growing its position by 117.8% to own 629,075 shares.
• Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals' stock recently opened at $29.08, with a market capitalization of $4.02 billion and an expected EPS of -2.42 for the current fiscal year.

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR - Free Report) by 49.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 71,963 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 69,048 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC owned about 0.05% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals worth $917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in ARWR. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,484,419 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $27,907,000 after buying an additional 151,654 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 224,988 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,230,000 after buying an additional 5,732 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 88,029 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,655,000 after buying an additional 32,841 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 266.0% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 372,749 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $7,008,000 after buying an additional 270,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 17,074 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 2,035 shares during the last quarter. 62.61% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of ARWR traded up $0.83 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $29.72. 2,708,766 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,962,464. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $19.73 and a 200-day moving average of $16.48. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52 week low of $9.57 and a 52 week high of $29.80. The stock has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -23.22 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 4.87 and a current ratio of 4.87.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.26) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.94) by ($0.32). The business had revenue of $27.77 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.01 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($1.38) earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ARWR has been the subject of a number of research reports. B. Riley upgraded shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Chardan Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 11th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, September 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $43.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider James C. Hamilton sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $375,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 247,122 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,178,050. This represents a 5.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $575,000. 4.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc develops medicines for the treatment of intractable diseases in the United States. The company's products in pipeline includes Plozasiran, which is in Phase 2b and one Phase 3 clinical trial to treat hypertriglyceridemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and chylomicronemia syndrome; Zodasiran that is in Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia; ARO-PNPLA3, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; ARO-RAGE that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat inflammatory pulmonary conditions; and ARO-MUC5AC, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat muco-obstructive pulmonary diseases.