Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $16.68, but opened at $17.23. Rocket Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $17.99, with a volume of 79,136 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RCKT has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $38.00 target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank initiated coverage on Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $51.75.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $18.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $21.29. The company has a current ratio of 7.79, a quick ratio of 7.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $1.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.27 and a beta of 1.09.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 5th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.74) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.72) by ($0.02). During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.82) earnings per share. Analysts predict that Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.97 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 174.3% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 2,606,016 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $70,170,000 after buying an additional 1,656,111 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 18.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,447,565 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $163,264,000 after buying an additional 843,552 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,943,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $79,290,000 after purchasing an additional 314,086 shares in the last quarter. First Turn Management LLC increased its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 123.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Turn Management LLC now owns 560,989 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $12,078,000 after purchasing an additional 310,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,197,546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $245,680,000 after purchasing an additional 174,716 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.