Morgan Stanley Upgrades Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) to "Overweight"

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from "equal weight" to "Overweight" and raised its price target to $100 (from $78), implying about a 44.4% upside from the current price.
• Analysts are broadly positive with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $83.78, as several firms (Piper Sandler, B. Riley, Goldman Sachs, Chardan) have recently raised price targets.
• In the latest quarter Arrowhead reported an EPS of $0.22 (missing the $0.60 estimate) but posted revenue of $264.03M (beating expectations and up ~10,461% year-over-year); insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares at ~$64.19.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $100.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock, up from their previous price target of $78.00. Morgan Stanley's target price would indicate a potential upside of 44.40% from the stock's current price.

ARWR has been the topic of a number of other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $110.00 price objective (up from $100.00) on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. B. Riley Financial upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $61.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Chardan Capital upped their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $60.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $83.78.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:ARWR opened at $69.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.26 and a beta of 1.26. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $10.95 and a 52 week high of $76.76. The company has a quick ratio of 3.38, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.98 and a 200 day moving average of $57.48.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.38). Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 35.64% and a net margin of 18.54%.The firm had revenue of $264.03 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $225.66 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($1.39) earnings per share. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals's revenue for the quarter was up 10461.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals will post -3.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

In related news, insider James C. Hamilton sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.19, for a total transaction of $641,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 236,958 shares in the company, valued at $15,210,334.02. This represents a 4.05% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARWR. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,035,870 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $553,077,000 after buying an additional 510,798 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $375,941,000 after buying an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 4.3% during the 4th 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 lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Baker BROS. Advisors LP now owns 2,175,645 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $144,441,000 after buying an additional 504,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,087,953 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $138,619,000 after buying an additional 6,264 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 62.61% of the company's stock.

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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