Avidity Biosciences’ (RNA) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) in a research note released on Monday,Benzinga reports. Needham & Company LLC currently has a $60.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on RNA. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $72.00 price target on shares of Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Monday. Citigroup initiated coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America dropped their price objective on Avidity Biosciences from $51.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Avidity Biosciences in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $72.00 target price for the company. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Avidity Biosciences from $63.00 to $57.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Avidity Biosciences currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $66.69.

Avidity Biosciences Price Performance

Shares of Avidity Biosciences stock opened at $31.72 on Monday. Avidity Biosciences has a fifty-two week low of $21.56 and a fifty-two week high of $56.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.01 and a beta of 1.02. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $31.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.63.

Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ:RNA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.80) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.76) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $2.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 million. Avidity Biosciences had a negative net margin of 2,772.45% and a negative return on equity of 27.66%. On average, analysts expect that Avidity Biosciences will post -2.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avidity Biosciences news, insider Kathleen P. Gallagher sold 5,875 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.16, for a total value of $188,940.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 50,554 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,625,816.64. The trade was a 10.41 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Michael F. Maclean sold 3,287 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.59, for a total value of $93,975.33. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 104,655 shares in the company, valued at $2,992,086.45. This trade represents a 3.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 24,390 shares of company stock valued at $718,303 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.68% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 4.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 16,848,776 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $773,864,000 after acquiring an additional 689,729 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,042,823 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $321,127,000 after acquiring an additional 408,861 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,431,911 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $274,280,000 after acquiring an additional 205,027 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 15.3% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,106,097 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $235,725,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,148 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Avoro Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Avidity Biosciences by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,500,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $218,100,000 after acquiring an additional 625,000 shares during the last quarter.

About Avidity Biosciences

Avidity Biosciences, Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the delivery of RNA therapeutics. It develops antibody oligonucleotide conjugates (AOC) that are designed to treat diseases previously untreatable with RNA therapeutics. The company's lead product candidate AOC 1001 for the treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1, a rare monogenic muscle disease that is in phase 1/2 clinical trial.