Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) Trading 6% Higher – Should You Buy?

Shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) traded up 6% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $20.53 and last traded at $20.90. 978,728 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 1,446,077 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.71.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 29th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. StockNews.com raised Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 27th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.33.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $2.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.14 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 6.74, a quick ratio of 6.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $20.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Christopher Richard Anzalone sold 12,563 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.59, for a total value of $246,109.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 3,775,772 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $73,967,373.48. This represents a 0.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William D. Waddill sold 3,748 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.90, for a total transaction of $82,081.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 44,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $966,337.50. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 146,473 shares of company stock valued at $2,937,847 over the last three months. Company insiders own 4.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ARWR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 139.1% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 145,874 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,791,000 after acquiring an additional 84,867 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 23.2% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 12,751 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $331,000 after acquiring an additional 2,405 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 240.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 43,699 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 30,866 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC bought a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $9,976,000. Finally, Deerfield Management Company L.P. Series C acquired a new position in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $506,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.61% of the company’s stock.

About Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc develops medicines for the treatment of intractable diseases in the United States. The company's products in pipeline includes Plozasiran, which is in Phase 2b and one Phase 3 clinical trial to treat hypertriglyceridemia, mixed dyslipidemia, and chylomicronemia syndrome; Zodasiran that is in Phase 2b clinical trial for the treatment of dyslipidemia and hypertriglyceridemia; ARO-PNPLA3, which is in Phase 1 clinical trial to treat patients with non-alcoholic steatohepatitis; ARO-RAGE that is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat inflammatory pulmonary conditions; and ARO-MUC5AC, which is in Phase 1/2a clinical trial to treat muco-obstructive pulmonary diseases.