Leerink Partners Initiates Coverage on Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK)

Key Points

• Leerink Partners has initiated coverage on Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK), assigning an "outperform" rating with a price target of $51.00, signaling a potential upside of 61.04% from current levels.
• The stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" with a consensus target price of $46.33, backed by multiple brokerage reports including a "strong-buy" from Raymond James.
• Scholar Rock reported a quarterly loss of ($0.98) EPS, missing estimates, while focusing on treatments for serious diseases, including Apitegromab in Phase 3 trials for spinal muscular atrophy.

Analysts at Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Monday. The brokerage set an "outperform" rating and a $51.00 price target on the stock. Leerink Partners' target price indicates a potential upside of 61.04% from the company's current price.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SRRK. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Scholar Rock in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Scholar Rock from $57.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Scholar Rock to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Scholar Rock in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. They issued an "overweight" rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $53.00 target price on shares of Scholar Rock and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and nine have issued a Buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $46.33.

Scholar Rock Stock Down 0.5%

SRRK stock opened at $31.67 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.88 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 6.33 and a current ratio of 6.33. Scholar Rock has a one year low of $6.76 and a one year high of $46.98. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.24.

Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.66) by ($0.32). During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.60) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Scholar Rock will post -2.42 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Scholar Rock

In other news, Director Jeffrey S. Flier sold 20,316 shares of Scholar Rock stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.24, for a total transaction of $654,987.84. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $776,016.80. The trade was a 45.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Mo Qatanani sold 24,066 shares of Scholar Rock stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.44, for a total transaction of $828,833.04. Following the sale, the insider owned 115,495 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,977,647.80. This trade represents a 17.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 66,654 shares of company stock worth $2,299,310 in the last quarter. Insiders own 13.30% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Scholar Rock

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans acquired a new stake in shares of Scholar Rock during the 2nd quarter valued at about $639,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Scholar Rock by 288.4% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 9,115 shares of the company's stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 6,768 shares during the last quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Scholar Rock by 6.8% in the second quarter. E Fund Management Co. Ltd. now owns 11,146 shares of the company's stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 710 shares in the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP increased its stake in Scholar Rock by 15.4% in the second quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 1,500,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,130,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Eventide Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Scholar Rock by 9.5% in the second quarter. Eventide Asset Management LLC now owns 2,913,246 shares of the company's stock valued at $103,192,000 after purchasing an additional 251,638 shares in the last quarter. 91.08% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Scholar Rock Company Profile

Scholar Rock Holding Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and delivery of medicines for the treatment of serious diseases in which signaling by protein growth factors plays a fundamental role. The company develops Apitegromab, an inhibitor of the activation of myostatin that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy; and SRK-181, which has completed Phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of cancers that are resistant to checkpoint inhibitor therapies, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody therapies.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.