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

Key Points

• Sarepta Therapeutics shares surged after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a market perform to an outperform rating, raising its price target to $50.00.
• The stock experienced a gap up, opening at $18.50 compared to the previous close of $17.43, and traded at $19.42 with significant volume.
• Despite positive analyst upgrades, Sarepta currently holds a consensus rating of "Hold" among analysts, with price targets ranging between $12.00 and $50.00.

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Monday after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $17.43, but opened at $18.50. BMO Capital Markets now has a $50.00 price target on the stock. Sarepta Therapeutics shares last traded at $19.42, with a volume of 2,792,740 shares traded.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on SRPT. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $13.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer upgraded Sarepta Therapeutics from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Monday, June 16th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $14.00 target price (down previously from $40.00) on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Hold rating and six have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.32.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SRPT. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 150.0% in the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.68% of the company's stock.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Up 7.0%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $17.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 1.81. The company has a market cap of $1.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.44 and a beta of 0.49.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last posted 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 for 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.07 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.67 EPS for the current 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.