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

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,600,000 shares, an increase of 7.5% from the March 31st total of 3,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 348,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 10.3 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 9.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 672,126 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,938,000 after purchasing an additional 57,413 shares in the last quarter. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Ascendis Pharma A/S during the third quarter worth $1,810,000. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in Ascendis Pharma A/S by 24.7% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 38,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,643,000 after acquiring an additional 7,700 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Ascendis Pharma A/S in the fourth quarter valued at $732,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S by 30.6% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 159,434 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,929,000 after acquiring an additional 37,363 shares during the period.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on ASND shares. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S from $207.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 8th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “equal weight” rating and issued a $116.00 price target on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $196.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, March 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Ascendis Pharma A/S from $165.00 to $167.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $173.00 target price on shares of Ascendis Pharma A/S in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ascendis Pharma A/S has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.25.

Ascendis Pharma A/S Stock Performance

ASND stock traded down $1.97 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $138.18. 150,224 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 362,873. Ascendis Pharma A/S has a 1-year low of $76.02 and a 1-year high of $161.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $148.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $126.77.

Ascendis Pharma A/S (NASDAQ:ASND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.66) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.15) by $0.49. Ascendis Pharma A/S had a negative net margin of 180.61% and a negative return on equity of 16,574.15%. The company had revenue of $148.62 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $97.02 million. On average, analysts expect that Ascendis Pharma A/S will post -4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ascendis Pharma A/S

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.