Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Upgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to "Neutral" Rating

Key Points

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Sarepta Therapeutics from an "underweight" to a "neutral" rating, with a price target of $24.00 suggesting a potential upside of 73.16% from its current price.
• Despite the upgrade, Sarepta Therapeutics has received mixed ratings from other analysts, with six giving sell ratings and seventeen issuing hold ratings.
• The company reported a negative earnings per share of ($3.42) for the last quarter, missing expectations but saw a year-over-year revenue increase of 80.2%.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $24.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price target indicates a potential upside of 50.85% from the stock's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $45.00 to $41.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Barclays downgraded Sarepta Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Monday. Needham & Company LLC restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut Sarepta Therapeutics from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Finally, UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Monday, July 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, sixteen have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $49.12.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics stock traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $15.91. 9,339,167 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,775,559. The company has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.91 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 2.46 and a current ratio of 4.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.50. Sarepta Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $10.41 and a 12 month high of $145.00.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.75 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.73 EPS. The business's revenue was up 80.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sarepta Therapeutics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SRPT. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 10,623 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $182,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd increased its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 1,736.5% during the second quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 870,181 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,880,000 after acquiring an additional 822,799 shares during the last quarter. Mason & Associates Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $191,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 59.9% during the second quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 48,555 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $830,000 after buying an additional 18,190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Privium Fund Management B.V. acquired a new stake in Sarepta Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter worth $698,000. Institutional investors own 86.68% of the company's stock.

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.