Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:RARE) by 740.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 86,440 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock after purchasing an additional 76,150 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.10% of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical worth $4,802,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sei Investments Co. increased its position in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 65,996 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $3,081,000 after purchasing an additional 616 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 7,143 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $334,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 8.7% in the 1st quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 6,074 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 486 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 0.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,700,007 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $406,203,000 after acquiring an additional 26,575 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical by 140.9% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 4,160 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 2,433 shares during the period. 97.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Howard Horn sold 7,465 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.76, for a total value of $393,853.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 92,301 shares in the company, valued at $4,869,800.76. This trade represents a 7.48 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Emil D. Kakkis sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.85, for a total transaction of $1,117,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,223,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $124,209,562.25. This trade represents a 0.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,556 shares of company stock valued at $1,515,967. Company insiders own 5.80% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RARE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $83.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. HC Wainwright upped their target price on shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $82.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $67.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical from $61.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.46.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Price Performance

Shares of RARE opened at $46.02 on Friday. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. has a 1-year low of $37.02 and a 1-year high of $60.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.25 billion, a PE ratio of -7.24 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.38.

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:RARE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.40) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.45) by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $139.49 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.28 million. Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical had a negative return on equity of 187.12% and a negative net margin of 106.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 42.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($2.23) EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. will post -6.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the identification, acquisition, development, and commercialization of novel products for the treatment of rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases in North America, Latin America, Japan, Europe, and internationally. Its biologic products include Crysvita (burosumab), an antibody targeting fibroblast growth factor 23 for the treatment of X-linked hypophosphatemia, as well as tumor-induced osteomalacia; Mepsevii, an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of children and adults with Mucopolysaccharidosis VII; Dojolvi for treating long-chain fatty acid oxidation disorders; and Evkeeza (evinacumab) for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.