Leerink Partners Raises Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Price Target to $15.00

Key Points

• Leerink Partners has raised its price target for Sarepta Therapeutics from $12.00 to $15.00, maintaining a "market perform" rating, which indicates a potential downside from its previous close.
• Bank of America has set a higher price target of $17.00 while assigning an "underperform" rating, reflecting a range of differing opinions on the company's stock performance.
• Sarepta Therapeutics reported a 68.4% year-over-year revenue increase with earnings per share of $2.02 for the last quarter, exceeding analysts' expectations significantly.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) had its price target increased by equities research analysts at Leerink Partners from $12.00 to $15.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "market perform" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Leerink Partners' target price suggests a potential downside of 14.97% from the company's previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SRPT. Bank of America lifted their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics to $17.00 and gave the stock an "underperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. TD Cowen cut Sarepta Therapeutics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. They set a "sell" rating on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $42.36.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Up 0.2%

SRPT traded up $0.04 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $17.64. 1,003,479 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,339,898. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of -20.27 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $17.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.86. Sarepta Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $10.41 and a 1 year high of $138.81.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by $1.13. The firm had revenue of $611.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $530.66 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 2.34% and a negative return on equity of 1.03%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 68.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.07 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SRPT. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,468 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $543,000 after buying an additional 597 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 11,174 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,359,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 30.0% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 2,275 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $277,000 after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the last quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 112.9% in the fourth quarter. Lighthouse Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,446 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 21,446 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Logan Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $61,000. 86.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Sarepta Therapeutics

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapeutics, gene therapies, and other genetic therapeutic modalities for the treatment of rare diseases. It offers EXONDYS 51 injection to treat duchenne muscular dystrophy (duchenne) in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping; VYONDYS 53 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 53 skipping; AMONDYS 45 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene; and ELEVIDYS, an adeno-associated virus based gene therapy for the treatment of ambulatory pediatric patients aged 4 through 5 years with duchenne with a confirmed mutation in the duchenne gene.

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