Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

Key Points

• Rocket Pharmaceuticals has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with two sell ratings and eight each for buy and hold.
• The stock's average one-year target price among brokerages is $16.67, while it trades currently around $3.85.
• Insiders have recently sold shares, indicating a 30.15% decrease in ownership for one key insider after selling nearly 29,000 shares.

Shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.6667.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $4.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Wednesday, August 20th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Leerink Partners dropped their price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $9.00 to $7.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $10.00 to $8.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (e+)" rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.9%

RCKT opened at $3.85 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $415.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.53 and a beta of 0.60. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $2.19 and a 52 week high of $18.17. The business's 50 day moving average is $3.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.00. The company has a quick ratio of 6.39, a current ratio of 6.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.57) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -2.83 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Militello sold 28,918 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.96, for a total transaction of $114,515.28. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 67,006 shares of the company's stock, valued at $265,343.76. This represents a 30.15% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jonathan David Schwartz sold 11,161 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.02, for a total transaction of $33,706.22. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 224,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,763.88. This trade represents a 4.74% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,368 shares of company stock worth $221,675. Insiders own 24.76% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RCKT. PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $89,000. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 114.3% in the 1st quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 323,091 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,045,000 after acquiring an additional 172,324 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 209,967 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 15,785 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 10.7% in the first quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 21,388 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $143,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 15.3% in the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 22,852 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $152,000 after purchasing an additional 3,026 shares during the last quarter. 98.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a late-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing gene therapies for rare and devastating diseases. It has three clinical-stage ex vivo lentiviral vector programs for fanconi anemia, a genetic defect in the bone marrow that reduces production of blood cells or promotes the production of faulty blood cells; leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I, a genetic disorder that causes the immune system to malfunction; and pyruvate kinase deficiency, a rare red blood cell autosomal recessive disorder that results in chronic non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia.

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