Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 43,144 ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRY)

Key Points

• Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC invested approximately $543,000 in ARS Pharmaceuticals by acquiring 43,144 shares in the first quarter.
• ARS Pharmaceuticals recently saw its stock rating downgraded from "hold" to "sell" by Wall Street Zen, despite having some analysts rating it a "strong buy."
• Insider trading activity included significant sales of shares by Director Brent L. Saunders and CFO Kathleen D. Scott, with over 1 million shares sold in the past three months.

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRY - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 43,144 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $543,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in ARS Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 163,252 shares of the company's stock worth $1,722,000 after acquiring an additional 917 shares during the period. Mariner LLC grew its stake in ARS Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 35,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in ARS Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 132,213 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,975 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals by 11.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 21,408 shares of the company's stock valued at $226,000 after acquiring an additional 2,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new stake in shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Wall Street Zen downgraded ARS Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.00.

ARS Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.8%

Shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $18.24. The stock had a trading volume of 379,904 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,515,888. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -114.11 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 11.00, a quick ratio of 10.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $8.91 and a 1 year high of $18.90. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $16.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $13.99.

ARS Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:SPRY - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported ($0.35) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.35). The business had revenue of $7.97 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.48 million. ARS Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 6.94% and a negative net margin of 16.11%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -0.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other ARS Pharmaceuticals news, Director Brent L. Saunders sold 120,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $14.25, for a total transaction of $1,710,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric Karas sold 15,000 shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.99, for a total value of $254,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 10,315 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $175,251.85. The trade was a 59.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,043,118 shares of company stock worth $18,024,863 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 33.50% of the company's stock.

ARS Pharmaceuticals Profile

ARS Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, develops treatments for severe allergic reactions. The company is developing neffy, a needle-free and low-dose intranasal epinephrine nasal spray for the emergency treatment of Type I allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis. It serves healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers.