New York State Teachers Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR

Key Points

• New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stake by 16.6% in the first quarter, selling 24,923 shares and leaving it with 124,853 shares valued at about $7.8 million.
• Several other institutional investors remained heavily invested in ARWR, and hedge funds and other institutions now own about 62.61% of the stock.
• Analysts are mixed but generally constructive: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $87.27, though one firm downgraded it to sell while others kept buy/overweight ratings.

New York State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR - Free Report) by 16.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 124,853 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 24,923 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.09% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals worth $7,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,900,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $375,941,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,264,963 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $216,799,000 after buying an additional 133,921 shares in the last quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,175,645 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $144,441,000 after buying an additional 504,883 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,087,953 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $138,619,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC increased its position in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 497.4% during the fourth quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 1,832,997 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $121,693,000 after acquiring an additional 1,526,164 shares in the last quarter. 62.61% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total value of $228,333.60. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 52,012 shares in the company, valued at $3,998,682.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 226,958 shares of the company's stock, valued at $17,021,850. The trade was a 4.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 26,065 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,662 in the last ninety days. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ARWR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $35.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. HC Wainwright reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $100.00 target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. assumed coverage on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $88.00 price target for the company. Finally, Chardan Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.27.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of ARWR traded down $2.10 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $84.45. 300,406 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,477,232. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41, a quick ratio of 6.23 and a current ratio of 6.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.94. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $14.30 and a 1 year high of $87.83. The stock has a market cap of $11.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.35 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Profile

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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