RA Capital Management Continues To Unload Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ACHN) Stock: Sells Further 835,293 Shares

In a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, RA Capital Management, managed by Peter Kolchinsky, has disclosed holding an 18.1% passive stake in Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN). In a separate filing, RA Capital disclosed that it sold 835,293 shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) at an average price of $11.63. Currently, RA Capital holds 17.70 million shares of the company common stock.

At the end of last month, RA Capital revealed selling around 2.71 million shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN). In June, the fund disclosed selling 800,000 shares of the company. Previously, RA Capital reported ownership of 22.49 million shares of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN).

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) is a pharmaceutical company focused on solutions for the most challenging problems in infectious disease including HCV, and has a market cap of $1.21 billion. The company recently announced that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office granted it U.S. Patent No. 8,809,313, covering composition-of-matter and method of use claims for ACH-3102 and structurally related NS5A inhibitor compounds.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) posted a second-quarter 2014 net loss of $15.7 million, or $0.16 per share, compared with a net loss of $19.9 million, or $0.21 per share, for the same quarter of 2013. It recognized no revenues for the second quarter, similar to the 2013 quarter.

Shares of the company traded up by 4.81% to $12.86 on Wednesday. For the stock, analysts have a consensus average target price of $12.80, and the average recommendation is ‘Buy.’

The largest shareholders of Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN), in addition to RA Capital, include QVT Financial, led by Daniel Gold, which reported ownership of 7.39 million shares, and Stephen Dubois’ Camber Capital Management, which disclosed holding 5.80 million shares of the company as of the end of the second quarter.

Boston-based RA Capital invests in companies with promising drugs and technologies. Peter Kolchinsky graduated from Harvard with a Ph.D. in virology in 2001. After graduation, he got $4 million from Vertex Pharma Co-Founder Rich Aldrich and started picking biotech stocks at RA Capital. In 2002, he broke even when the S&P 500 index lost 22%. By the end of 2003, the initial $4 million investment became $13 million. As of the end of the second quarter of 2014, the market value of the fund’s equity portfolio totaled around nearly $990.

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