Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, fourteen have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $131.2857.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Citizens Jmp lifted their price target on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $141.00 to $167.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. HC Wainwright upped their price target on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $123.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $145.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 9th.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RYTM opened at $108.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -34.95 and a beta of 2.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $106.42 and a two-hundred day moving average of $100.84. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $45.90 and a fifty-two week high of $122.20.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by ($0.10). Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 110.32% and a negative return on equity of 433.21%. The company had revenue of $51.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $50.71 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals will post -4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Pamela J. Cramer sold 3,350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.00, for a total transaction of $371,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 20,814 shares in the company, valued at $2,310,354. The trade was a 13.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph Shulman sold 9,748 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $115.24, for a total transaction of $1,123,359.52. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 8,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $980,577.16. The trade was a 53.39% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 15,913 shares of company stock worth $1,818,963. Company insiders own 6.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. RA Capital Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the third quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 5,681,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $573,760,000 after buying an additional 120,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 39.2% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,996,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,589,000 after acquiring an additional 1,407,313 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,727,885 shares of the company’s stock valued at $174,499,000 after acquiring an additional 41,391 shares in the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 21.5% in the 2nd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,629,468 shares of the company’s stock worth $102,966,000 after acquiring an additional 288,376 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,311,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $82,868,000 after purchasing an additional 24,085 shares in the last quarter.

About Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing targeted therapies for rare genetic diseases of obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The company’s research focuses on the melanocortin‐4 receptor (MC4R) pathway, which plays a central role in regulating appetite, energy expenditure and body weight. Using proprietary peptide technology, Rhythm aims to provide precision treatments to patients with specific genetic variants that disrupt normal weight regulation.

The company’s lead investigational product, setmelanotide, is a selective MC4R agonist designed to restore signaling in patients with deficiencies in genes such as POMC, LEPR and PCSK1.