Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Sees Large Volume Increase on Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Sarepta Therapeutics shares experienced a 142% surge in trading volume following an upgrade from Barclays, shifting their rating from underweight to equal weight with a price target of $22.00.
• Other brokerages have varied opinions on the stock, with price targets ranging from $13.00 to $80.00, illustrating a divided outlook among analysts on Sarepta Therapeutics.
• Despite reporting significant revenue growth of 80.2% year-over-year, the company posted a negative earnings per share of ($3.42), missing consensus estimates.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) shares saw an uptick in trading volume on Wednesday after Barclays upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating. Barclays now has a $22.00 price target on the stock. 13,293,181 shares changed hands during trading, an increase of 142% from the previous session's volume of 5,493,786 shares.The stock last traded at $18.36 and had previously closed at $15.83.

Several other research firms also recently commented on SRPT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $24.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $65.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Bank of America reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. They set a "market perform" rating and a $13.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $25.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.12.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRPT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 22.1% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,357 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 1,151 shares in the last quarter. Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 31.7% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,935 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $2,910,000 after purchasing an additional 5,764 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 53,438 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $6,497,000 after buying an additional 5,895 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,429 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $307,000 after acquiring an additional 243 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 72.4% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 5,523 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $669,000 after purchasing an additional 2,320 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.68% of the company's stock.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.99 and a beta of 0.45. The company's 50-day moving average is $24.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.50. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.42) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.20 by ($5.62). Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 14.88% and a negative net margin of 11.12%. The company had revenue of $744.86 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.75 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 80.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sarepta Therapeutics Company Profile

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.