Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR) Shares Gap Down Following Weak Earnings

Shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARWR) gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday after the company announced weaker than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $19.92, but opened at $18.23. Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $19.18, with a volume of 183,105 shares trading hands.

The biotechnology company reported ($1.39) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.97).

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $24.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals from $27.00 to $26.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, November 27th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Chardan Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director William D. Waddill sold 3,748 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.90, for a total value of $82,081.20. Following the sale, the director now owns 44,125 shares in the company, valued at $966,337.50. This represents a 7.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider James C. Hamilton sold 32,729 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.82, for a total transaction of $648,688.78. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 272,122 shares in the company, valued at $5,393,458.04. The trade was a 10.74 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 147,432 shares of company stock worth $2,957,986. 4.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its stake in shares of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 15.3% in the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 20,749 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $390,000 after acquiring an additional 2,750 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $38,622,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals by 23.8% during the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 13,281 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 2,556 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $233,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $434,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.61% of the company’s stock.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $20.14 and its 200-day moving average is $21.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.32 billion, a PE ratio of -3.70 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a current ratio of 6.74 and a quick ratio of 6.74.

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.