BMO Capital Markets Cuts Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Price Target to $8.00

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) had its price target dropped by BMO Capital Markets from $30.00 to $8.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target points to a potential upside of 224.54% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on RCKT. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $45.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 9th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “equal weight” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $8.00 target price (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.58.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ RCKT traded up $0.14 on Wednesday, hitting $2.47. 14,212,773 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,781,201. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $6.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $9.73. The company has a market cap of $263.23 million, a P/E ratio of -0.90 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 6.05, a quick ratio of 6.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $2.19 and a 1-year high of $26.98.

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

Insider Activity at Rocket Pharmaceuticals

In other Rocket Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Aaron Ondrey sold 7,489 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total transaction of $39,616.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 129,650 shares in the company, valued at approximately $685,848.50. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Kinnari Patel bought 21,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.70 per share, for a total transaction of $99,165.30. Following the acquisition, the insider now directly owns 26,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,837.80. This represents a 371.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 24.76% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 24.5% during the 4th 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,617,784 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $44,141,000 after buying an additional 40,189 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP boosted its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 4,820,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,154,000 after buying an additional 106,091 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 2,106,699 shares during the period. Finally, Suvretta Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,267,000. 98.39% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.