Platinum Investment Management Ltd. Sells 21,538 Shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $ARWR

Key Points

• Platinum Investment Management reduced its Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stake by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 21,538 shares and leaving it with 89,484 shares valued at about $5.94 million.
• Insider selling continued, with CFO Daniel Joseph Apel and Director Hongbo Lu both selling shares in pre-arranged 10b5-1 transactions; insiders have sold 26,065 shares over the last three months.
• Despite some mixed analyst actions, Arrowhead still carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $87.80, while the stock recently traded around $74.52 and topped Wall Street’s EPS estimate in its latest quarter.

Platinum Investment Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR - Free Report) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 89,484 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 21,538 shares during the period. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 1.4% of Platinum Investment Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Platinum Investment Management Ltd. owned 0.06% of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals worth $5,941,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of ARWR. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 2,569.6% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 240,634 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $15,976,000 after buying an additional 231,620 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. acquired a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $781,000. Erste Asset Management GmbH grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 55.3% during the third quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 73,000 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,466,000 after buying an additional 26,000 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 133.3% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 1,053,794 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $36,345,000 after buying an additional 602,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 90.3% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 775,717 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $26,754,000 after buying an additional 368,073 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.61% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CFO Daniel Joseph Apel sold 13,095 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.35, for a total value of $934,328.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 162,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,623,271.75. The trade was a 7.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Hongbo Lu sold 2,970 shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $76.88, for a total value of $228,333.60. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,012 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,998,682.56. This trade represents a 5.40% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders sold 26,065 shares of company stock valued at $1,912,662 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.60% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on ARWR shares. Weiss Ratings cut Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. started coverage on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, May 1st. They set an "overweight" rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $87.80.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:ARWR opened at $74.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.66 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a quick ratio of 6.23, a current ratio of 6.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12-month low of $14.30 and a 12-month high of $82.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $72.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.71.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.93) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $73.84 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.75 earnings per share. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was down 86.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3 earnings per share for the current year.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Company 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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