Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Given “Outperform” Rating at Wedbush

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently issued reports on RCKT. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $2.95 price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $8.12.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RCKT traded up $0.14 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.62. The company had a trading volume of 1,221,591 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,517,012. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $3.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 9.24 and a quick ratio of 9.24. The firm has a market cap of $287.07 million, a P/E ratio of -15.38 and a beta of 0.50. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $2.42 and a 12 month high of $5.45.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.22. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.62) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Christopher Stevens sold 36,658 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.50, for a total value of $128,303.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 505,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,770,244. The trade was a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 75,364 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.40, for a total value of $256,237.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 598,489 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,034,862.60. This represents a 11.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 125,977 shares of company stock worth $432,273. 21.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rocket Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth approximately $33,940,000. Maverick Capital Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 42.0% during the 1st quarter. Maverick Capital Ltd. now owns 3,567,372 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,771,000 after buying an additional 1,054,262 shares in the last quarter. Monaco Asset Management SAM bought a new position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,483,000. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,420,000 after buying an additional 45,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,512,000. Institutional investors own 98.39% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ:RCKT) is a biotechnology company focused on developing gene therapies for rare and devastating diseases. The company uses both ex vivo hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy and in vivo adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapy approaches to address conditions with limited or no effective treatment options.

Rocket’s development programs have included marnetegragene autotemcel (RP-L102) for leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I, a rare inherited immune disorder; RP-A501 for Danon disease, a genetic heart condition; RP-A601 for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy associated with PKP2 mutations; and RP-L301 for pyruvate kinase deficiency, an inherited blood disorder.