Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) Stock Rated "Hold" by Wall Street Analysts

Key Points

• Analysts’ consensus rating is “Hold.” Among 12 analysts, five rate Rocket Pharmaceuticals a buy, four a hold, two a sell and one a strong buy; the average 12-month price target is $7.77.
• Shares opened at $2.56, down 2.7%. The stock has traded between $2.42 and $5.45 over the past year, while the company reported quarterly EPS of $1.08, exceeding the $0.86 analyst consensus.
• Institutional ownership is high at 98.39%. BlackRock and several other investors recently established or expanded positions, while insiders sold 125,977 shares worth approximately $432,273 over the past 90 days, primarily to cover tax obligations tied to equity awards.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $7.77.

A number of brokerages have recently commented on RCKT. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $2.95 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $3.00 to $4.00 in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of RCKT opened at $2.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 9.24 and a current ratio of 9.24. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $2.42 and a one year high of $5.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $281.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.06 and a beta of 0.50. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $3.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.39.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.22. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.62) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Christopher Stevens sold 36,658 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.50, for a total value of $128,303.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 505,784 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,770,244. This trade represents a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 75,364 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.40, for a total value of $256,237.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 598,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,862.60. The trade was a 11.18% 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. Insiders sold 125,977 shares of company stock valued at $432,273 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 21.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Maverick Capital Ltd. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 1,054,262 shares during the period. Monaco Asset Management SAM purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $8,483,000. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,940,000. Ieq Capital LLC acquired a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,506,000. Finally, ADAR1 Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,489,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.39% of the company's stock.

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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