Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Shares Gap Up After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Sarepta Therapeutics shares gapped up to $24.19 after Royal Bank Of Canada raised the price target from $14.00 to $16.00, despite the stock closing at $23.12 the previous day.
• The company reported a significant quarterly earnings surprise with EPS of $2.02, surpassing estimates by $1.13, and experienced a revenue increase of 68.4% year-over-year.
• Analysts show mixed ratings on Sarepta, with nine assigning a Buy rating, fourteen a Hold, and seven a Sell, reflecting varied investor sentiments.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on the stock from $14.00 to $16.00. The stock had previously closed at $23.12, but opened at $24.19. Royal Bank Of Canada currently has a sector perform rating on the stock. Sarepta Therapeutics shares last traded at $24.03, with a volume of 2,388,082 shares traded.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Sarepta Therapeutics to $19.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Leerink Partnrs lowered Sarepta Therapeutics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, July 21st. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, September 9th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have given a Hold rating and seven have given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Sarepta Therapeutics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.04.

Institutional Trading of Sarepta Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SRPT. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,699 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $571,000 after acquiring an additional 218 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 53.0% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 797 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 276 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 11,175 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $713,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 22,900 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,461,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 26,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $1,710,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.68% of the company's stock.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 1.81 and a current ratio of 2.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $18.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.80. The company has a market capitalization of $2.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -27.41 and a beta of 0.51.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $1.13. The company had revenue of $611.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $530.66 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 1.03% and a negative net margin of 2.34%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 68.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.07 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.67 earnings per share 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.

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