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

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley upgraded Sarepta Therapeutics' price target from $15.00 to $20.00, causing shares to gap up from a previous closing price of $13.86 to an open of $18.23.
• The stock last traded at $17.22 with significant trading volume of over 17 million shares, indicating strong market interest.
• Sarepta's quarterly earnings report showed a miss on EPS expectations, reporting ($3.42) per share, despite a revenue increase of 80.2% compared to the same quarter last year.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday after Barclays upgraded the stock from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating. The stock had previously closed at $13.86, but opened at $18.23. Barclays now has a $22.00 price target on the stock. Sarepta Therapeutics shares last traded at $17.22, with a volume of 17,009,337 shares traded.

SRPT has been the subject of a number of other reports. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "hold" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 21st. Citigroup initiated coverage on Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. They issued a "sell" rating for the company. HC Wainwright reissued a "sell" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday. Finally, TD Cowen cut Sarepta Therapeutics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and set a $24.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $49.12.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRPT. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 22.1% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 6,357 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,151 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 31.7% during the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 23,935 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $2,910,000 after buying an additional 5,764 shares during the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 12.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 14.7% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 27,965 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,400,000 after buying an additional 3,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,429 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 243 shares during the last quarter. 86.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $24.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.20. The company has a current ratio of 4.02, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.23 and a beta of 0.45.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.42) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.20 by ($5.62). The firm had revenue of $744.86 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.75 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 11.12% and a negative return on equity of 14.88%. The firm'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 company posted $0.73 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current 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.