Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) was downgraded by stock analysts at Leerink Swann from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, StockTargetPrices.com reports.

Shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) traded down 1.86% on Friday, hitting $6.86. 434,846 shares of the stock were exchanged. Achillion Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $6.41 and a one year high of $15.44. The firm’s market capitalization is $936.69 million. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $8.99 and a 200-day moving average price of $8.56.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ACHN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $33.82 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $32.62 million. Equities research analysts expect that Achillion Pharmaceuticals will post ($0.11) earnings per share for the current year.

In related news, insider David Apelian sold 10,000 shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.50, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mary Kay Fenton sold 43,500 shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $10.08, for a total transaction of $438,480.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Several hedge funds recently made changes to their positions in ACHN. Simplex Trading bought a new stake in shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $300,000. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals by 55.1% in the fourth quarter. Creative Planning now owns 57,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $623,000 after buying an additional 20,500 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its stake in shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 69,600 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. DIAM Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. DIAM Co. Ltd. now owns 698,755 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $7,281,000 after buying an additional 16,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Capital Management increased its stake in shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals by 14.0% in the third quarter. Janus Capital Management now owns 7,334,548 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $50,682,000 after buying an additional 902,220 shares during the last quarter.

ACHN has been the topic of a number of other reports. Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 5th. Jefferies Group raised their price objective on shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals from $7.00 to $8.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. William Blair restated an “outperform” rating and set a $16.00 price objective on shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, December 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.89.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company. The Company’s primary business is to discover, develop and commercialize small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of infectious diseases and immune system disorders. The Company is focused on developing short-duration combination therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus, or HCV, infection that are once-daily and ribavirin-free. The Company is advancing several combination regimens, including ACH-3102, a NS5A inhibitor, which is under Phase II clinical development, ACH-3422, a NS5B nucleotide polymerase inhibitor, which is under Phase I clinical development, and Sovaprevir, a NS3 protease inhibitor, which is under Phase II clinical development.

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