Rocket Pharmaceuticals’ (RCKT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Chardan Capital

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Chardan Capital in a research report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $11.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. Chardan Capital’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 320.65% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $2.95 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $15.00 price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $9.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.12.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

RCKT stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $2.62. 1,098,483 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,516,623. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $3.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $3.42. 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 has a 52 week low of $2.42 and a 52 week high of $5.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $287.07 million, a PE ratio of -15.38 and a beta of 0.50.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The biotechnology company reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.22. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.62) EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -1.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 75,364 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.40, for a total transaction of $256,237.60. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 598,489 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,034,862.60. This trade represents a 11.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a 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 stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.50, for a total value of $128,303.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 505,784 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,770,244. This trade represents a 6.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 125,977 shares of company stock valued at $432,273. Company insiders own 21.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Corient Private Wealth LP grew its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 17.0% during the 2nd 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. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 8.1% in the first quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 91,887 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 6,900 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP purchased a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 68.9% in the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 8,298 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.39% of the company’s stock.

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.