Candriam S.C.A. Buys 252,820 Shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN)

Candriam S.C.A. lifted its stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN) by 77.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 580,222 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 252,820 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical were worth $38,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 57.4% in the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 510 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical during the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 920.8% during the third quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 735 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $52,000 after buying an additional 663 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 13,400.0% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 810 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 111.2% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 885 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. 98.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America lifted their price objective on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $99.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Wolfe Research began coverage on BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research note on Friday, November 15th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $95.00 price objective for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.00.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BMRN opened at $71.19 on Thursday. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has a twelve month low of $60.63 and a twelve month high of $94.85. The firm has a market cap of $13.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.36, a PEG ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a 50 day moving average of $65.57 and a 200 day moving average of $69.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.62, a current ratio of 5.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:BMRN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.18. BioMarin Pharmaceutical had a net margin of 14.96% and a return on equity of 9.91%. The company had revenue of $747.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $711.05 million. As a group, research analysts expect that BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. will post 3.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Erin Burkhart sold 1,344 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.38, for a total transaction of $91,902.72. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 13,105 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $896,119.90. This represents a 9.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Profile

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc develops and commercializes therapies for people with serious and life-threatening rare diseases and medical conditions. Its commercial products include Vimizim, an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) IV type A, a lysosomal storage disorder; Naglazyme, a recombinant form of N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfatase for patients with MPS VI; and Kuvan, a proprietary synthetic oral form of 6R-BH4 that is used to treat patients with phenylketonuria (PKU), an inherited metabolic disease.