Bank of America Upgrades Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) to Buy

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) was upgraded by analysts at Bank of America from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $10.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $4.00. Bank of America‘s price target suggests a potential upside of 168.10% from the stock’s previous close.

RCKT has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $7.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Rocket Pharmaceuticals from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Evercore ISI downgraded Rocket Pharmaceuticals from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and set a $5.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Leerink Partners restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $8.00 price objective (down previously from $37.00) on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, May 27th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rocket Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $16.73.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ RCKT opened at $3.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $402.47 million, a P/E ratio of -1.49 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 6.39, a quick ratio of 6.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $2.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.71. Rocket Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $2.19 and a 12 month high of $22.01.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.59) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.57) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.74) earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Rocket Pharmaceuticals will post -2.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rocket Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Jonathan David Schwartz sold 11,161 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.02, for a total transaction of $33,706.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 224,094 shares in the company, valued at approximately $676,763.88. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, General Counsel Martin Wilson sold 12,109 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.02, for a total value of $36,569.18. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 137,054 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $413,903.08. The trade was a 8.12% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 36,927 shares of company stock valued at $111,413 in the last quarter. 24.76% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 40.4% during the 4th quarter. Virtus ETF Advisers LLC now owns 5,656 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 1,628 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 83.6% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 9,024 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 4,108 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. bought a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $69,000. Finally, Mariner LLC bought a new position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $139,000. Institutional investors own 98.39% of the company’s stock.

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.