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

Key Points

• Analysts have a consensus “Hold” rating on Rocket Pharmaceuticals, with three sells, two holds, four buys and one strong buy. The average 12-month price target is $8.71, ranging above the stock’s $3.19 opening price.
• Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ shares remain near the lower end of their 12-month range of $2.53 to $5.45, while the company reported a quarterly loss of $0.42 per share, missing estimates by $0.01.
• Insiders sold 83,733 shares worth approximately $275,000 over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own a substantial 98.39% of the company.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of "Hold" by the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $8.7143.

A number of research firms have recently commented on RCKT. Bank of America lifted their target price on Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $8.00 to $9.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 30th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Chardan Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $11.00 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, May 11th.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of RCKT opened at $3.19 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 6.12, a quick ratio of 6.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $348.32 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.71 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $3.26 and a 200 day moving average of $3.64. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $2.53 and a 12 month high of $5.45.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.41) by ($0.01). During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.56) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Sarbani Chaudhuri sold 17,650 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.84, for a total value of $67,776.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 267,510 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,027,238.40. The trade was a 6.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO Gaurav Shah sold 55,684 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.09, for a total value of $172,063.56. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,061,724 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,280,727.16. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 83,733 shares of company stock worth $275,307 in the last ninety days. 21.30% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RCKT. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 94.4% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 12,202 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 5,926 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Institutional investors own 98.39% of the company's stock.

About Rocket Pharmaceuticals

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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