Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Hits New 52-Week Low After Analyst Downgrade

Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) shares hit a new 52-week low on Wednesday after Leerink Partnrs downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The company traded as low as $2.19 and last traded at $2.33, with a volume of 54528235 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $6.27.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Chardan Capital lowered their price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $46.00 to $17.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $9.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Leerink Partners reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $8.00 price target (down from $37.00) on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $30.00 to $8.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $22.46.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Aaron Ondrey sold 7,489 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total value of $39,616.81. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 129,650 shares in the company, valued at $685,848.50. The trade was a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Kinnari Patel purchased 21,099 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.70 per share, with a total value of $99,165.30. Following the completion of the purchase, the insider now directly owns 26,774 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $125,837.80. This trade represents a 371.79% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 24.76% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 33,166.7% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,996 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 1,990 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 319.8% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,916 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 3,745 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 51.9% in the fourth quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,385 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 1,840 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 159.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,475 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $69,000 after acquiring an additional 3,366 shares during the period. Finally, Virtus ETF Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 40.4% in the fourth 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. 98.39% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $6.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $9.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $279.78 million, a P/E ratio of -0.95 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 6.05 and a quick ratio of 6.05.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.58) by $0.02. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.66) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.83 EPS for the current year.

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.