Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK) Given New $40.00 Price Target at Needham & Company LLC

Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK) had its target price upped by analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $35.00 to $40.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 17.79% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on STOK. Chardan Capital lifted their target price on Stoke Therapeutics from $24.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. UBS Group set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a report on Monday, December 15th. Loop Capital set a $35.00 price objective on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $60.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Stoke Therapeutics in a research note on Monday, December 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $39.67.

Stoke Therapeutics Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of STOK opened at $33.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.74 and a 200 day moving average of $29.80. The company has a market capitalization of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 50.69 and a beta of 1.07. Stoke Therapeutics has a 12 month low of $5.35 and a 12 month high of $40.22.

Stoke Therapeutics (NASDAQ:STOK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 17th. The company reported ($0.97) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by ($0.22). The business had revenue of $1.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.32 million. Stoke Therapeutics had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 19.73%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Stoke Therapeutics will post -2.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Stoke Therapeutics

In other news, Director Adrian R. Krainer sold 33,243 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.74, for a total transaction of $1,321,076.82. Following the sale, the director directly owned 283,302 shares in the company, valued at $11,258,421.48. This represents a 10.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Arthur Tzianabos sold 4,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total transaction of $174,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,253,560. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Corporate insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Stoke Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Stoke Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,062,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in shares of Stoke Therapeutics by 7.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,300,554 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,111,000 after buying an additional 168,771 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Stoke Therapeutics in the third quarter worth $3,539,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Stoke Therapeutics by 264.8% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 81,395 shares of the company’s stock valued at $924,000 after buying an additional 59,081 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Stoke Therapeutics by 7.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,163,874 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,351,000 after buying an additional 217,616 shares during the period.

Stoke Therapeutics Company Profile

Stoke Therapeutics, headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing genetic medicines to upregulate protein production for the treatment of rare neuromuscular and neurological disorders. Founded in 2014, the company applies its proprietary Targeted Augmentation of Nuclear Gene Output (TANGO™) platform to design antisense oligonucleotides that selectively modulate RNA splicing and enhance expression of functional proteins.

The company’s lead program, STK-001, is an antisense oligonucleotide therapy designed to increase production of the sodium channel protein SCN1A and is currently in clinical development for Dravet syndrome, a severe childhood-onset epilepsy.