Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALNY)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday after Scotiabank raised their price target on the stock from $300.00 to $338.00. The stock had previously closed at $253.55, but opened at $261.82. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Alnylam Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $274.34, with a volume of 692,627 shares.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on ALNY. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $302.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $400.00 to $500.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $308.74.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alnylam Pharmaceuticals news, Director Phillip A. Sharp sold 11,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.00, for a total transaction of $3,093,750.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CMO Pushkal Garg sold 52,592 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total transaction of $14,988,720.00. Following the sale, the chief marketing officer now owns 11,989 shares in the company, valued at $3,416,865. The trade was a 81.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 71,234 shares of company stock worth $19,958,097. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ALNY. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $1,045,822,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $577,941,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,968,513 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,639,767,000 after purchasing an additional 1,724,610 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 39.7% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,384,449 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $1,031,705,000 after purchasing an additional 1,245,195 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals by 496.6% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 378,649 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $89,100,000 after purchasing an additional 315,182 shares during the last quarter. 92.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $256.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $259.51. The company has a current ratio of 2.78, a quick ratio of 2.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 15.27. The company has a market cap of $36.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -128.75 and a beta of 0.39.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ALNY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.62) by ($0.03). On average, analysts expect that Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -1.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Alnylam Pharmaceuticals

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid interference. Its marketed products include ONPATTRO (patisiran) for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis in adults; AMVUTTRA for the treatment of hATTR amyloidosis with polyneuropathy in adults; GIVLAARI for the treatment of adults with acute hepatic porphyria; and OXLUMO for the treatment of primary hyperoxaluria type 1.