Wall Street Zen Upgrades Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (RYTM) from a "sell" to a "hold," while the analyst consensus remains a Moderate Buy with a $131.13 average price target (many firms rate it Buy or Strong Buy).
• Rhythm slightly beat quarterly expectations—EPS of ($0.73) vs. ($0.79) estimated and revenue $57.3M vs. $56.2M—yet remains unprofitable with negative margins and analysts projecting about -4.32 EPS for the year.
• Insiders have been selling (27,267 shares, ~$2.72M in the last 90 days) even as institutional investors like Invesco and Wellington materially increased their holdings.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on RYTM. Citizens Jmp dropped their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $176.00 to $152.00 and set a "market outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $143.00 price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $141.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, HC Wainwright dropped their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $100.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $131.13.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of RYTM stock opened at $84.39 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $92.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $100.93. The stock has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a PE ratio of -27.14 and a beta of 2.14. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $55.31 and a 1 year high of $122.20.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.79) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $57.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $56.16 million. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 266.56% and a negative net margin of 103.57%.Rhythm Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 36.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.72) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals will post -4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Hunter C. Smith sold 4,385 shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total value of $444,025.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 110,512 shares of the company's stock, valued at $11,190,445.12. The trade was a 3.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher Paul German sold 5,614 shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $502,789.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 160 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,329.60. This represents a 97.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 27,267 shares of company stock valued at $2,719,955. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 32.7% in the fourth quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 11,771 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 2,903 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 102.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 291,150 shares of the company's stock valued at $31,165,000 after acquiring an additional 147,595 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 94.1% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,164 shares of the company's stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 2,019 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new position in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $1,117,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 922.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 250,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $26,777,000 after acquiring an additional 225,679 shares during the last quarter.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing targeted therapies for rare genetic diseases of obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The company's research focuses on the melanocortin‐4 receptor (MC4R) pathway, which plays a central role in regulating appetite, energy expenditure and body weight. Using proprietary peptide technology, Rhythm aims to provide precision treatments to patients with specific genetic variants that disrupt normal weight regulation.

The company's lead investigational product, setmelanotide, is a selective MC4R agonist designed to restore signaling in patients with deficiencies in genes such as POMC, LEPR and PCSK1.

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