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

Key Points

• Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold” from 12 brokerages, with mixed views including three sells, three holds, five buys, and one strong buy. The average 1-year price target is $8.88.
• The stock was up 2.9% and opened at $3.52, while the company reported a quarterly EPS loss of ($0.42), slightly missing estimates. Analysts expect full-year earnings of -1.16 EPS.
• Recent insider activity showed CEO Gaurav Shah and another insider selling shares, while institutional ownership remains high at 98.39%. The company is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm focused on gene therapies for rare pediatric diseases.

Shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $8.8750.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (e+)" rating in a research note on Monday. Chardan Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America upped their target price on Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $3.52 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 6.12 and a quick ratio of 6.12. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $2.53 and a 1 year high of $5.45. The firm's 50-day moving average is $3.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $3.61. The stock has a market cap of $384.35 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.88 and a beta of 0.44.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.42) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.41) by ($0.01). During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.56) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rocket Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Gaurav Shah sold 55,684 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.09, for a total value of $172,063.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,061,724 shares in the company, valued at $3,280,727.16. The trade was a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sarbani Chaudhuri sold 17,650 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.84, for a total transaction of $67,776.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 267,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,027,238.40. This represents a 6.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 83,733 shares of company stock valued at $275,307 over the last 90 days. 21.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 73.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,097,033 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 889,231 shares in the last quarter. Essential Partners LLC boosted its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 371.6% in the first quarter. Essential Partners LLC now owns 13,541 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 10,670 shares in the last quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 42.0% in the first quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,567,372 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $12,771,000 after acquiring an additional 1,054,262 shares in the last quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 91,887 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 6,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 68.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,349 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 8,298 shares during the last quarter. 98.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing gene therapies for rare, inherited pediatric diseases. The company employs a proprietary adeno-associated virus (AAV) and lentiviral vector platform to deliver functional copies of genes in patients with genetic deficiencies. Its programs target a spectrum of disorders, including Fanconi anemia, leukocyte adhesion deficiency type I and Danon disease, with the goal of delivering one-time treatments that address the underlying causes of disease rather than merely managing symptoms.

The company's pipeline comprises multiple product candidates in various stages of development.

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