Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,530,000 shares, an increase of 22.9% from the October 15th total of 4,500,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 359,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 15.4 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ASND. RA Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 61.3% in the second quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,225,357 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,001,863,000 after acquiring an additional 4,268,178 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 14.6% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,665,579 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $547,552,000 after purchasing an additional 594,855 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 4.7% during the third quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 3,802,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $356,036,000 after purchasing an additional 170,465 shares in the last quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 7.3% in the 1st quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,325,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $356,506,000 after acquiring an additional 225,000 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,828,267 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $345,417,000 after acquiring an additional 796,087 shares in the last quarter.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ASND shares. StockNews.com cut Ascendis Pharma A/S from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $152.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Friday, September 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $113.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $192.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a report on Wednesday, November 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $139.00 to $134.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $140.43.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Price Performance

Ascendis Pharma A/S stock traded down $1.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $92.93. 22,048 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 452,262. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12-month low of $64.33 and a 12-month high of $127.77. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.33 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.39, a current ratio of 3.44 and a quick ratio of 2.56.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, September 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($2.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($2.68) by $0.33. Ascendis Pharma A/S had a negative net margin of 391.76% and a negative return on equity of 570.61%. The business had revenue of $51.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.73 million. Analysts forecast that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -9.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Company Profile

Ascendis Pharma A/S, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing therapies for unmet medical needs. It offers SKYTROFA for treating patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD). The company also develops TransCon Growth Hormone for treating pediatric GHD, adult GHD, and turner syndrome; TransCon Parathyroid Hormone for adult patients with hypoparathyroidism; and TransCon C-type natriuretic peptide for achondroplasia.