Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT)

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 4,625 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 47% compared to the typical volume of 3,153 call options.

Sarepta Therapeutics Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ:SRPT traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $16.68. 555,785 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,100,089. Sarepta Therapeutics has a 1-year low of $14.68 and a 1-year high of $25.32. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $18.52. The company has a current ratio of 4.63, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a P/E ratio of -5.75, a PEG ratio of 0.17 and a beta of 0.23.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $3.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $2.18. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 1.66% and a negative net margin of 13.48%.The business had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $474.15 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($3.42) EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 3.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Sarepta Therapeutics

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Sarepta Therapeutics by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,810,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,167,000 after buying an additional 993,283 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,794,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 230.8% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 240,536 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,176,000 after buying an additional 167,831 shares during the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,935,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on SRPT shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Sarepta Therapeutics from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $27.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 4th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $25.06.

Sarepta Therapeutics Company Profile

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of precision genetic medicines for rare neuromuscular diseases. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sarepta’s core expertise lies in designing RNA-targeted therapies and gene therapies that address underlying genetic mutations. The company’s mission is to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and related disorders through innovative modalities.

Sarepta’s commercial products include several exon-skipping therapies approved by the U.S.