Is Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Stock a Buy or Sell After the CEO Sold Shares Worth $5.4 Million?

On Dec. 17, 2025, Christopher Richard Anzalone, Chief Executive Officer of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ARWR), executed an open-market sale of 85,000 shares for a transaction value of $5,443,462.11, according to a SEC Form 4 filing.

Transaction summary

Transaction value based on SEC Form 4 weighted average purchase price ($64.04); post-transaction holding value of $248,310,813.60 based on Dec. 17, 2025 market close ($64.80).

Key questions

• How does this sale compare to Mr. Anzalone's historical trading activity?
  This 85,000-share sale matches the median sell size (85,000 shares) for Mr. Anzalone’s sell transactions from Dec. 23, 2024 to Dec. 17, 2025, indicating consistency in sell transaction scale during this period.
• What was the market context at the time of the transaction?
  Shares were priced at around $64.04 in the transaction, with the stock closing at $64.80 on Dec. 17, 2025; this represents a 249.37% total return over the prior year as of the transaction date.
• What is the impact of this transaction on Mr. Anzalone's ownership position?
  Following the sale, Mr. Anzalone retains 3,831,957 directly held shares, maintaining a significant ownership stake in the company.
• Are there any indications of capacity-driven adjustments or tax planning influencing this transaction?
  The sale's timing and explicit footnote reference to anticipated tax obligations from recent performance award vesting suggest the transaction serves a tax-planning function, consistent with prior periods when similar award-related sales occurred.

Company overview

* 1-year performance calculated using Dec. 17, 2025 as the reference date.

Company snapshot

• Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals develops RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutics targeting diseases such as liver disorders, hypertriglyceridemia, and chronic hepatitis B, with a robust clinical pipeline including ARO-AAT, ARO-APOC3, and JNJ-3989.
• It generates revenue through licensing agreements, research collaborations, and milestone payments from pharmaceutical partners, leveraging proprietary RNAi technology platforms.
• The company targets biopharmaceutical companies and healthcare providers addressing unmet medical needs in rare and chronic disease markets.

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing RNAi-based medicines for serious diseases, with a strong emphasis on liver and cardiometabolic conditions. The company’s strategy centers on advancing a diversified pipeline while partnering with leading pharmaceutical firms to accelerate commercialization.

Arrowhead’s competitive edge lies in its proprietary RNAi delivery technologies and its ability to address previously untreatable diseases.

What this transaction means for investors

The sale of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals stock by CEO Christopher Anzalone is not a cause for concern. He sold the shares in anticipation of taxes owed for performance awards that vested in December.

The stock sale came at a time when Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals' share price was surging. This was a result of the company receiving approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its plozasiran therapeutic, sold in the U.S. as Redemplo, for use in treating adults with familial chylomicronemia syndrome.

This was Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals' first FDA-approved medicine. Consequently, its stock soared, eventually reaching a 52-week high of $76.76 on Jan. 6.

With the rise in share price of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals, now is a good time to sell if you're a shareholder. However, given the stock's elevated price-to-sales ratio compared to where it was before the FDA approval, the ideal approach is to wait for the share price to drop before deciding to buy.

Glossary

Open-market sale: When securities are sold on a public exchange, available to any buyer at prevailing market prices.
SEC Form 4: A required filing disclosing insider trades by company officers, directors, or significant shareholders.
Direct holdings: Shares owned personally by an individual, not through trusts, funds, or other entities.
Indirect holdings: Shares owned through another entity, such as a trust or family member, rather than directly.
Derivative mechanics: Financial arrangements like options or warrants that derive value from an underlying security, not direct share ownership.
Performance awards: Company shares or options granted to executives based on meeting specific performance goals.
Vesting: The process by which an individual earns the right to receive shares or options, usually over time or upon meeting conditions.
Tax planning: Strategies to manage and minimize tax liabilities, often involving the timing of asset sales.
RNA interference (RNAi): A biological process where RNA molecules inhibit gene expression, used for targeted therapies.
Milestone payments: Payments received when a project or partnership achieves predefined development or regulatory goals.
Clinical pipeline: The portfolio of drug candidates a company is developing, typically at various stages of clinical trials.
TTM: The 12-month period ending with the most recent quarterly report.

Robert Izquierdo has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.