California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 2,932 Shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN)

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its stake in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ:BMRN) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 849,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 2,932 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.45% of BioMarin Pharmaceutical worth $55,862,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 21.7% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 206,538 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,518,000 after buying an additional 36,877 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in BioMarin Pharmaceutical during the 3rd quarter worth $171,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA bought a new stake in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in the 3rd quarter worth $254,000. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical by 34.1% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 10,900 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $766,000 after purchasing an additional 2,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new position in BioMarin Pharmaceutical during the third quarter worth about $2,008,000. 98.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on BMRN. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $109.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Citigroup lifted their price target on BioMarin Pharmaceutical from $81.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Oppenheimer upgraded BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $98.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.00.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BMRN opened at $67.94 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $67.75 and a 200 day moving average of $67.30. The company has a current ratio of 5.33, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $12.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.88, a P/E/G ratio of 0.61 and a beta of 0.33. BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. has a 12 month low of $60.63 and a 12 month high of $94.85.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical (NASDAQ:BMRN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The biotechnology company reported $0.72 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $747.31 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $711.05 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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 1,295 shares of BioMarin Pharmaceutical stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.52, for a total transaction of $92,618.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 16,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,212,621.60. This trade represents a 7.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.85% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About BioMarin Pharmaceutical

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.