Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 320,708 Shares of Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. $STOK

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management cut its Stoke Therapeutics stake by 26.1% in the first quarter, selling 320,708 shares and leaving it with 907,015 shares worth about $29.5 million.
• Several analysts remain bullish on STOK, with nine Buy ratings overall and a consensus price target of $41.83, even as one firm downgraded the stock to Sell.
• Recent insider transactions showed continued selling: General Counsel Jonathan Allan and insider Barry Ticho both reduced their holdings through pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its position in Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STOK - Free Report) by 26.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 907,015 shares of the company's stock after selling 320,708 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 1.53% of Stoke Therapeutics worth $29,532,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Stoke Therapeutics by 7.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,163,874 shares of the company's stock valued at $74,351,000 after purchasing an additional 217,616 shares during the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. bought a new position in Stoke Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $7,837,000. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Stoke Therapeutics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,000,000. Checkpoint Capital L.P. acquired a new position in Stoke Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at approximately $4,983,000. Finally, Rhenman & Partners Asset Management AB bought a new stake in Stoke Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at approximately $5,875,000.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Chardan Capital reissued a "buy" rating and set a $35.00 price target on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. BTIG Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $39.00 price objective on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a report on Monday, May 11th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Stoke Therapeutics from $36.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 20th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Stoke Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, March 21st. Finally, Wedbush boosted their price target on Stoke Therapeutics from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Stoke Therapeutics currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $41.83.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Jonathan Allan sold 1,457 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.95, for a total transaction of $43,637.15. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 18,086 shares of the company's stock, valued at $541,675.70. This represents a 7.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Barry Ticho sold 1,795 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.58, for a total transaction of $54,891.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 34,826 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,064,979.08. This trade represents a 4.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 9.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Stoke Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of STOK opened at $32.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $31.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.36. Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. has a one year low of $11.19 and a one year high of $40.22. The company has a market cap of $1.99 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.39 and a beta of 1.17.

Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported ($0.79) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.80) by $0.01. The company had revenue of $6.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.48 million. Stoke Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 529.20% and a negative return on equity of 48.84%. On average, analysts expect that Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Stoke Therapeutics

Stoke Therapeutics, headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing genetic medicines to upregulate protein production for the treatment of rare neuromuscular and neurological disorders. Founded in 2014, the company applies its proprietary Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output (TANGO™) platform to design antisense oligonucleotides that selectively modulate RNA splicing and enhance expression of functional proteins.

The company's lead program, STK-001, is an antisense oligonucleotide therapy designed to increase production of the sodium channel protein SCN1A and is currently in clinical development for Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood-onset epilepsy.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding STOK? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STOK - Free Report).

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.