OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN)

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN - Free Report) by 78.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,840 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after acquiring an additional 11,840 shares during the period. OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical were worth $1,764,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical during the 4th quarter worth $317,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 461.3% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 611,667 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $40,205,000 after buying an additional 502,695 shares in the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital purchased a new position in BioMarin Pharmaceutical during the 4th quarter valued at about $430,000. Swedbank AB grew its holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 432,122 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $28,403,000 after buying an additional 43,593 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 556,255 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $36,563,000 after purchasing an additional 11,025 shares in the last quarter. 98.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BMRN has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $109.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $90.00 target price on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $93.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Erin Burkhart sold 1,295 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.52, for a total transaction of $92,618.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 16,955 shares in the company, valued at $1,212,621.60. This trade represents a 7.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,912 shares of company stock worth $202,244. Company insiders own 0.85% of the company's stock.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Stock Performance

BMRN stock traded up $1.00 during trading on Friday, reaching $59.27. The stock had a trading volume of 3,493,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,871,991. The stock's 50 day moving average is $63.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.06. The firm has a market cap of $11.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.94, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.27. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has a 52 week low of $52.93 and a 52 week high of $94.85. The company has a current ratio of 5.33, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:BMRN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.18. BioMarin Pharmaceutical had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 9.91%. The business had revenue of $747.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $711.05 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

About BioMarin Pharmaceutical

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc develops and commercializes therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. Its commercial products include Vimizim, an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IV type A, a lysosomal storage disorder; Naglazyme, a recombinant form of N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase for patients with MPS VI; and Kuvan, a proprietary synthetic oral form of 6R-BH4 that is used to treat patients with phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disease.