Baillie Gifford & Co. Decreases Stock Position in Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND)

Baillie Gifford & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Free Report) by 69.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,403 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 49,668 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co.'s holdings in Ascendis Pharma A/S were worth $3,196,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ASND. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 13.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 686 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 61.0% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 876 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares during the period. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the third quarter valued at $217,000. Searle & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in the 2nd quarter valued at about $205,000. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 10.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,533 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ASND has been the subject of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $180.00 to $174.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com lowered Ascendis Pharma A/S from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $190.00 price objective (up previously from $180.00) on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Bank of America lifted their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $175.00 to $191.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $178.00 to $207.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $195.92.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of ASND stock traded up $0.73 on Thursday, reaching $126.76. The company's stock had a trading volume of 523,597 shares, compared to its average volume of 443,568. The company has a market capitalization of $7.69 billion, a P/E ratio of -13.54 and a beta of 0.66. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $132.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $132.86. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 12-month low of $90.13 and a 12-month high of $161.00.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, September 3rd. The biotechnology company reported ($2.05) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($1.54) by ($0.51). The company had revenue of $38.75 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $94.74 million. Research analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -7.35 EPS for the current year.

Ascendis Pharma A/S 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 is also developing a pipeline of three independent endocrinology rare disease product candidates in clinical development, as well as focuses on advancing oncology therapeutic candidates.