Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Stock Price Up 4% After Analyst Upgrade

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) traded up 4% on Tuesday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $20.00 to $68.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Rocket Lab traded as high as $69.67 and last traded at $68.03. 27,480,603 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 21,015,566 shares. The stock had previously closed at $65.42.

RKLB has been the subject of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Rocket Lab from $34.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Craig Hallum initiated coverage on Rocket Lab in a research report on Monday, July 28th. They set a “hold” rating and a $51.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America raised their target price on Rocket Lab from $30.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Rocket Lab in a research note on Monday, June 30th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $27.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rocket Lab presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $46.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Rocket Lab news, CEO Peter Beck sold 1,436,442 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.75, for a total value of $70,026,547.50. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,500,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $121,875,000. The trade was a 36.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Matthew Ocko sold 1,873,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.20, for a total transaction of $90,283,275.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 541,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,101,553.20. The trade was a 77.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 5,406,361 shares of company stock worth $267,483,973. 11.90% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RKLB. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab by 10.6% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 40,029,546 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $715,728,000 after buying an additional 3,833,969 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab by 67.0% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,242,304 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $223,287,000 after acquiring an additional 2,504,054 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab during the second quarter worth $192,918,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Rocket Lab during the second quarter valued at $164,751,000. Finally, Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab by 2.6% during the first quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 2,586,532 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $46,247,000 after purchasing an additional 65,255 shares during the last quarter. 71.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rocket Lab Price Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $49.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.38. The firm has a market cap of $32.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -151.18 and a beta of 2.14. The company has a current ratio of 2.67, a quick ratio of 2.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.07) by ($0.06). Rocket Lab had a negative net margin of 45.87% and a negative return on equity of 48.14%. The firm had revenue of $144.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $135.42 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.08) earnings per share. Rocket Lab’s quarterly revenue was up 35.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Rocket Lab has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 EPS for the current year.

Rocket Lab Company Profile

Rocket Lab USA, Inc, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets.