Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Price Target Cut to $4.00 by Analysts at Leerink Partners

Key Points

• Leerink Partners cut Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ price target to $4.00 from $7.00 while maintaining a “market perform” rating, implying roughly 56% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains mixed: Rocket has a consensus “Hold” rating and a $7.66 average price target, despite buy and outperform ratings from several firms.
• The stock rose 3.4% to $2.56, but remains near its 12-month low; institutional investors own 98.39% of shares, while insiders sold stock primarily to cover tax obligations tied to equity awards.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Leerink Partners from $7.00 to $4.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "market perform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Leerink Partners' target price indicates a potential upside of 55.95% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Chardan Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $11.00 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $9.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rocket Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $7.66.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.4%

NASDAQ RCKT traded up $0.09 on Wednesday, reaching $2.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,431,577 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,518,314. The company has a quick ratio of 9.24, a current ratio of 9.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $3.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.42. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $2.42 and a 12-month high of $5.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $281.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.09 and a beta of 0.50.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.22. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.62) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 75,364 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.40, for a total transaction of $256,237.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 598,489 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,034,862.60. The trade was a 11.18% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Christopher Stevens sold 36,658 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.50, for a total value of $128,303.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer owned 505,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,770,244. This trade represents a 6.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 125,977 shares of company stock valued at $432,273. 21.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth approximately $33,940,000. Monaco Asset Management SAM purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,483,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 42.0% in the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,567,372 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $12,771,000 after purchasing an additional 1,054,262 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE acquired a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,512,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth $1,506,000. 98.39% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc NASDAQ: RCKT is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene therapies for rare and devastating diseases. The company uses both ex vivo hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy and in vivo adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy approaches to address conditions with limited or no effective treatment options.

Rocket's development programs have included marnetegragene autotemcel (RP-L102) for leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I, a rare inherited immune disorder; RP-A501 for Danon disease, a genetic heart condition; RP-A601 for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy associated with PKP2 mutations; and RP-L301 for pyruvate kinase deficiency, an inherited blood disorder.

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