Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Down 3.3% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Rocket Lab's shares fell 3.3%, trading between $64.14 and $64.26, with a trading volume of nearly 40 million shares, significantly above its average daily volume.
• Analysts have mixed views on Rocket Lab, with target price increases from firms like Cantor Fitzgerald and Bank of America, while Weiss Ratings maintained a "sell" rating; the overall consensus is a "Moderate Buy".
• Insider trading reports indicate significant stock sales, with director Matthew Ocko selling over 1.87 million shares and CFO Adam C. Spice selling nearly 875,000 shares, reflecting a trend of insider selling.

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB - Get Free Report) shares dropped 3.3% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $64.14 and last traded at $64.26. Approximately 39,519,974 shares traded hands during trading, an increase of 89% from the average daily volume of 20,948,188 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.42.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on RKLB shares. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Rocket Lab from $35.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Bank of America increased their target price on Rocket Lab from $30.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Rocket Lab from $40.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $42.27.

Rocket Lab Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $31.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -142.80 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a current ratio of 2.67. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.30.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.13) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.07) by ($0.06). Rocket Lab had a negative return on equity of 48.14% and a negative net margin of 45.87%.The company had revenue of $144.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $135.42 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 35.9% on a year-over-year basis. Rocket Lab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rocket Lab

In related news, Director Matthew Ocko sold 1,873,097 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.20, for a total transaction of $90,283,275.40. Following the sale, the director owned 541,526 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,101,553.20. This trade represents a 77.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 874,588 shares of Rocket Lab stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.01, for a total value of $41,988,969.88. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 2,057,889 shares in the company, valued at $98,799,250.89. This represents a 29.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 5,406,361 shares of company stock worth $267,483,973 in the last three months. 11.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RKLB. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $192,918,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $164,751,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Rocket Lab by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,029,546 shares of the rocket manufacturer's stock valued at $715,728,000 after purchasing an additional 3,833,969 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Rocket Lab by 67.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,242,304 shares of the rocket manufacturer's stock valued at $223,287,000 after purchasing an additional 2,504,054 shares during the period. Finally, Marex Group plc acquired a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab in the 2nd quarter valued at about $74,359,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company's stock.

Rocket Lab Company Profile

Rocket Lab USA, Inc, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets.

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