Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,830,000 shares, a growth of 31.8% from the April 30th total of 6,700,000 shares. Approximately 10.0% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 3,410,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SRPT shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Sarepta Therapeutics from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $87.00 to $58.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $184.00 to $123.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $182.00 to $113.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $122.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Claude Nicaise sold 2,491 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.64, for a total transaction of $248,203.24. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 27,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,771,187.68. This trade represents a 8.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 7.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRPT. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Sarepta Therapeutics by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,085,456 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,104,701,000 after acquiring an additional 117,904 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 38.9% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,697,137 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,057,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437,855 shares during the last quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,865,100 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $348,368,000 after purchasing an additional 285,100 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 27.9% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,646,619 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $168,907,000 after buying an additional 577,848 shares during the period. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,997,991 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $127,512,000 after buying an additional 41,408 shares during the period. 86.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sarepta Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SRPT traded up $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.54. 2,335,396 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,742,844. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 31.63 and a beta of 0.85. Sarepta Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $34.10 and a twelve month high of $173.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 3.84 and a quick ratio of 3.03. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $90.33.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.42) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by ($5.62). The firm had revenue of $744.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.75 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 11.00%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 80.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Sarepta Therapeutics

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapeutics, gene therapies, and other genetic therapeutic modalities for the treatment of rare diseases. It offers EXONDYS 51 injection to treat duchenne muscular dystrophy (duchenne) in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping; VYONDYS 53 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 53 skipping; AMONDYS 45 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene; and ELEVIDYS, an adeno-associated virus based gene therapy for the treatment of ambulatory pediatric patients aged 4 through 5 years with duchenne with a confirmed mutation in the duchenne gene.