Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK) Shares Down 7.1% - Time to Sell?

Key Points

• Stoke Therapeutics shares fell 7.1% to about $22.43, with trading volume 73% below the average. The stock remains below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.
• Despite the decline, analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 10 analysts rate the stock Buy and one rates it Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $44.25.
• The company reported a quarterly loss of $0.93 per share, missing expectations by $0.13, while revenue of $9.32 million exceeded estimates. Stoke remains unprofitable, with analysts forecasting a full-year loss of $3.52 per share.

Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STOK - Get Free Report) shares traded down 7.1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $22.41 and last traded at $22.4290. Approximately 210,817 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 782,184 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.15.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d)" rating on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. began coverage on Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 21st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $40.00 target price for the company. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price target on Stoke Therapeutics from $60.00 to $58.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Finally, Chardan Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $35.00 price target on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $44.25.

Stoke Therapeutics Stock Down 7.4%

The firm has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.73 and a beta of 1.26. The business's fifty day moving average is $29.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.80.

Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The company reported ($0.93) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.80) by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $9.32 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.89 million. Stoke Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 59.36% and a negative net margin of 753.60%. Research analysts forecast that Stoke Therapeutics, Inc. will post -3.52 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Stoke Therapeutics

In other news, insider Barry Ticho sold 1,051 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.16, for a total transaction of $27,494.16. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 19,059 shares in the company, valued at $498,583.44. The trade was a 5.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, General Counsel Jonathan Allan sold 2,861 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.03, for a total value of $91,637.83. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 21,225 shares in the company, valued at $679,836.75. This trade represents a 11.88% 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 a total of 34,594 shares of company stock worth $1,069,305 over the last 90 days. 9.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Stoke Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Stoke Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $192,307,000. Redmile Group LLC lifted its holdings in Stoke Therapeutics by 3.2% in the first quarter. Redmile Group LLC now owns 4,164,120 shares of the company's stock valued at $135,584,000 after buying an additional 130,050 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Stoke Therapeutics by 13.7% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,519,301 shares of the company's stock valued at $115,152,000 after buying an additional 423,601 shares during the period. BVF Inc. IL boosted its stake in Stoke Therapeutics by 36.7% in the fourth quarter. BVF Inc. IL now owns 2,265,674 shares of the company's stock valued at $71,912,000 after acquiring an additional 608,578 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Stoke Therapeutics in the second quarter valued at approximately $59,358,000.

Stoke Therapeutics Company Profile

Stoke Therapeutics, Inc is a biotechnology company developing genetic medicines for severe diseases caused by inadequate protein expression. The company's approach, known as TANGO (Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output), uses antisense oligonucleotides to selectively modulate pre-messenger RNA splicing and increase production of functional proteins from disease-associated genes.

Stoke's lead program is zorevunersen (STK-001), an investigational antisense oligonucleotide designed to increase functional NaV1.1 protein expression in people with Dravet syndrome, a severe genetic epilepsy caused primarily by mutations in the SCN1A gene.

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