Scholar Rock Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:SRRK)

Key Points

• Scholar Rock Holding Corporation experienced a significant increase in options trading, with traders acquiring 12,415 put options, marking a 421% rise from the average volume.
• Insider sales saw notable activity, with directors Katie Peng and Jeffrey S. Flier selling a combined total of over 12,000 shares, reflecting a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• Several hedge funds have increased their stakes in Scholar Rock, with a notable 3,824.9% increase from GAMMA Investing LLC, highlighting growing institutional interest.

Scholar Rock Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:SRRK - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders acquired 12,415 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 421% compared to the average volume of 2,383 put options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Katie Peng sold 1,006 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.53, for a total transaction of $32,725.18. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,914 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,103,222.42. This represents a 2.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jeffrey S. Flier sold 11,136 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $445,662.72. Following the sale, the director directly owned 24,070 shares in the company, valued at $963,281.40. This trade represents a 31.63% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 18,673 shares of company stock valued at $687,751. 13.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Scholar Rock

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SRRK. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Scholar Rock by 3,824.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 30,928 shares of the company's stock worth $962,000 after buying an additional 30,140 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in Scholar Rock by 6.6% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 120,752 shares of the company's stock worth $3,882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,491 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Scholar Rock by 11.1% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 24,122 shares of the company's stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares during the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. increased its position in Scholar Rock by 21.9% during the first quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. now owns 2,396 shares of the company's stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Scholar Rock by 4.2% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 216,223 shares of the company's stock valued at $6,952,000 after acquiring an additional 8,731 shares during the last quarter. 91.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRRK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Leerink Partnrs raised shares of Scholar Rock to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, September 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of Scholar Rock from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Scholar Rock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of Scholar Rock from $52.00 to $51.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Scholar Rock from $57.00 to $45.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $47.00.

Scholar Rock Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:SRRK traded down $5.39 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $34.07. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,919,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,498,345. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $34.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 6.33 and a current ratio of 6.33. The company has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of -11.91 and a beta of 0.42. Scholar Rock has a 12-month low of $22.71 and a 12-month high of $46.98.

Scholar Rock (NASDAQ:SRRK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.98) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.66) by ($0.32). During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.60) EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Scholar Rock will post -2.42 EPS for the current year.

Scholar Rock Company Profile

Scholar Rock Holding Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, and delivery of medicines for the treatment of serious diseases in which signaling by protein growth factors plays a fundamental role. The company develops Apitegromab, an inhibitor of the activation of myostatin that is in Phase 3 clinical trial for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy; and SRK-181, which has completed Phase 1 clinical trials for the treatment of cancers that are resistant to checkpoint inhibitor therapies, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 antibody therapies.

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