Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Stock Price Target Cut by Leerink Partners

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) had its price target cut by Leerink Partners from $7.00 to $4.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Leerink Partners’ price target suggests a potential upside of 55.95% from the company’s current price.

RCKT has been the subject of several other research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Needham & Company LLC raised shares of 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Chardan Capital reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $7.66.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ RCKT traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.56. 1,431,577 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,518,314. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $3.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $3.42. The company has a market cap of $281.59 million, a PE ratio of -15.09 and a beta of 0.50. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $2.42 and a twelve month high of $5.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 9.24 and a quick ratio of 9.24.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.22. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.62) earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Rocket Pharmaceuticals

In other news, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 75,364 shares of the 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 sale, the general counsel directly owned 598,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,862.60. This represents a 11.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Christopher Stevens sold 36,658 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.50, for a total transaction of $128,303.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 505,784 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,770,244. This trade represents a 6.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 125,977 shares of company stock valued at $432,273 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RCKT. Opaleye Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 4.7% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,420,000 after buying an additional 45,000 shares during the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 524.9% during the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 181,147 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 152,161 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 17.0% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 37,819 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $129,000 after buying an additional 5,501 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $211,000. 98.39% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.