Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) Hits New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Avidity Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:RNA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $72.70 and last traded at $72.6150, with a volume of 381842 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded Avidity Biosciences from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $52.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Monday, October 27th. Chardan Capital restated a “neutral” rating and set a $72.00 target price on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Tuesday, November 11th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Avidity Biosciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Loop Capital set a $72.00 price objective on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Roth Capital lowered shares of Avidity Biosciences from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Avidity Biosciences currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.57.

Avidity Biosciences Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $10.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.37 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $71.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.79.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The biotechnology company reported ($1.27) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.05) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $12.48 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.80 million. Avidity Biosciences had a negative return on equity of 37.70% and a negative net margin of 2,634.59%.Avidity Biosciences’s revenue was up 420.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Avidity Biosciences, Inc. will post -2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avidity Biosciences

In related news, CEO Sarah Boyce sold 8,576 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total value of $619,444.48. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 283,394 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,469,548.62. This trade represents a 2.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Charles Calderaro III sold 3,727 shares of Avidity Biosciences stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.23, for a total transaction of $269,201.21. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 49,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,596,837.31. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,571 shares of company stock worth $1,792,453. 3.83% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Avidity Biosciences

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RNA. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 4.8% in the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 16,316 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 746 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Avidity Biosciences by 157.0% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 45,923 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,001,000 after buying an additional 28,055 shares in the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Avidity Biosciences by 46.8% in the 2nd quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 41,389 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,175,000 after buying an additional 13,189 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Avidity Biosciences during the second quarter valued at about $28,261,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS increased its position in shares of Avidity Biosciences by 19.5% during the second quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 19,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 3,100 shares during the last quarter.

About Avidity Biosciences

Avidity Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing antibody-oligonucleotide conjugate (AOC) therapies designed to address serious neuromuscular and cardiac diseases. The company’s proprietary AOC platform combines the targeting specificity of monoclonal antibodies with the gene-modulating power of oligonucleotides to deliver therapeutic agents directly into muscle cells. Headquartered in La Jolla, California, Avidity seeks to overcome traditional delivery challenges associated with RNA-based medicines by leveraging receptor-mediated uptake mechanisms.

The company’s lead product candidate, AOC 1001, is in clinical development for myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and represents the first application of the AOC platform in a human study.