Principal Financial Group Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY)

Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY - Free Report) by 234.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,701 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock after purchasing an additional 24,323 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals were worth $9,370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in ALNY. Capital World Investors grew its position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 16,600,525 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $3,906,284,000 after purchasing an additional 92,101 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,733,399 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $2,996,296,000 after buying an additional 98,303 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,968,513 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $1,639,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,724,610 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 39.7% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,384,449 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $1,031,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,245,195 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $577,941,000. 92.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on ALNY shares. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $300.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $310.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $338.00 to $342.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their target price on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and twenty-two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $346.13.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

ALNY stock traded up $1.88 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $324.69. The stock had a trading volume of 744,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 855,007. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $205.87 and a 52-week high of $333.70. The company has a current ratio of 3.04, a quick ratio of 2.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.88. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $303.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.33. The company has a market cap of $42.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -155.35 and a beta of 0.23.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.44) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.37) by ($0.07). The business had revenue of $594.19 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $584.32 million. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 510.31% and a negative net margin of 11.49%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.16) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Yvonne Greenstreet sold 31,640 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.39, for a total value of $9,630,899.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 48,948 shares in the company, valued at $14,899,281.72. This represents a 39.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interference. Its marketed products include ONPATTRO (patisiran) for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults; AMVUTTRA for the treatment of hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in adults; GIVLAARI for the treatment of adults with acute hepatic porphyria; and OXLUMO for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1.