Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAPT) Trading Up 5% – Still a Buy?

Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAPT) shares rose 5% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $34.18 and last traded at $33.8150. Approximately 24,828 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 258,741 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.19.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on RAPT shares. Leerink Partners upgraded Rapt Therapeutics from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $16.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Friday, September 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rapt Therapeutics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Rapt Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Rapt Therapeutics from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Rapt Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, December 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rapt Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.44.

Rapt Therapeutics Trading Up 7.8%

The company has a market cap of $961.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -3.14 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $32.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $22.78.

Rapt Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RAPT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.65) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.88) by $0.23. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Rapt Therapeutics will post -2.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RAPT. Boone Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rapt Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at $20,180,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Rapt Therapeutics in the first quarter valued at about $188,000. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new position in Rapt Therapeutics in the third quarter valued at about $3,625,000. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in Rapt Therapeutics during the third quarter worth about $2,370,000. Finally, Velan Capital Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Rapt Therapeutics during the third quarter worth approximately $2,063,000. 99.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Rapt Therapeutics

RAPT Therapeutics, Inc (NASDAQ:RAPT) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for autoimmune and allergic diseases. Founded in 2013 and headquartered in San Diego, California, RAPT applies tissue-selective immunology to design small molecule and biologic candidates that modulate immune cell trafficking and tissue-resident pathways. The company’s research platform enables the identification of targets that drive tissue inflammation with the goal of achieving improved efficacy and safety profiles over current therapies.

The company’s lead asset, RPT193, is an orally available antagonist of the CC chemokine receptor 4 (CCR4), currently in clinical development for atopic dermatitis and allergic asthma.