Morse Asset Management Inc Purchases Shares of 6,489 Ascendis Pharma A/S $ASND

Key Points

• Morse Asset Management initiated a new stake in Ascendis Pharma (NASDAQ:ASND) in Q4, purchasing 6,489 shares valued at about $1.38 million, according to its Form 13F filing.
• Multiple institutional investors ramped up positions—Avoro (5.11M shares), Capital International (3.06M), Wellington (1.80M after a 95.9% increase), Principal Financial (1.03M), and Perceptive Advisors (a new stake worth roughly $166.4M)—indicating strong institutional interest.
• Analysts are broadly positive with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target of about $291.56, even as the company recently missed EPS estimates (‑$0.64 vs. ‑$0.06) while beating revenue expectations; ASND trades around $228.71 with a market cap of $14.27B.

Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,489 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $1,384,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,110,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,015,919,000 after purchasing an additional 130,000 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 3,060,616 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $608,481,000 after buying an additional 13,685 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 95.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,798,931 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $357,645,000 after purchasing an additional 880,836 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 29.3% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,026,407 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $218,871,000 after acquiring an additional 232,730 shares during the period. Finally, Perceptive Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S during the 2nd quarter valued at about $166,367,000.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ASND has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday, March 16th. They set a "buy" rating and a $290.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $250.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. TD Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $246.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $260.00 price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Monday, March 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $291.56.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

ASND stock opened at $228.71 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $231.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $218.40. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a fifty-two week low of $150.89 and a fifty-two week high of $250.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.98 and a beta of 0.41.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.64) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.06) by ($0.58). The company had revenue of $290.38 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $285.35 million. Equities analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post 4.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Profile

Ascendis Pharma A/S is a Denmark‐based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies for rare endocrine diseases. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Hellerup, the company leverages its proprietary TransCon drug delivery platform to create long‐acting prodrugs designed to improve safety, efficacy and patient convenience. Ascendis Pharma maintains research and development operations in Europe and the United States, with clinical studies spanning North America, Europe and Asia.

The company's lead product, lonapegsomatropin (Skytrofa®), is a once‐weekly growth hormone therapy approved by the U.S.

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