Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Stock Price Down 7.5% After Analyst Downgrade

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) dropped 7.5% during trading on Tuesday after Scotiabank lowered their price target on the stock from $52.00 to $51.00. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the stock. Rocket Pharmaceuticals traded as low as $6.65 and last traded at $6.48. Approximately 484,777 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 66% from the average daily volume of 1,421,951 shares. The stock had previously closed at $7.00.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on RCKT. Chardan Capital reduced their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Canaccord Genuity Group cut their price objective on Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rocket Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.82.

Insider Activity at Rocket Pharmaceuticals

In other Rocket Pharmaceuticals news, CEO Gaurav Shah purchased 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 10th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $5.08 per share, for a total transaction of $101,600.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 792,680 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,026,814.40. This trade represents a 2.59% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kinnari Patel purchased 21,099 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $4.70 per share, with a total value of $99,165.30. Following the acquisition, the insider now owns 26,774 shares in the company, valued at $125,837.80. The trade was a 371.79% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 28.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,995,177 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $175,919,000 after acquiring an additional 2,753,033 shares during the last quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,267,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 111.0% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,004,039 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $50,343,000 after purchasing an additional 2,106,699 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 3,163.9% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,569,823 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $19,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,521,727 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boxer Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $18,428,000. Institutional investors own 98.39% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 8.3%

The firm has a market capitalization of $685.25 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.33 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 6.05 and a quick ratio of 6.05. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $7.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $10.53.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.58) by $0.02. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.66) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

About Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a late-stage biotechnology company that focuses on developing gene therapies for rare and devastating diseases. It has three clinical-stage ex vivo lentiviral vector programs for fanconi anemia, a genetic defect in the bone marrow that reduces production of blood cells or promotes the production of faulty blood cells; leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I, a genetic disorder that causes the immune system to malfunction; and pyruvate kinase deficiency, a rare red blood cell autosomal recessive disorder that results in chronic non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia.