Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) gapped up prior to trading on Monday after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock from a market perform rating to an outperform rating. The stock had previously closed at $17.43, but opened at $18.50. BMO Capital Markets now has a $50.00 price target on the stock. Sarepta Therapeutics shares last traded at $19.42, with a volume of 2,792,740 shares trading hands.

SRPT has been the topic of several other research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $40.00 to $35.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics to $12.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $25.00 to $23.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Leerink Partners lifted their price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $12.00 to $15.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Hold rating and six have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sarepta Therapeutics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.32.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Byrne Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $30,000. Center for Financial Planning Inc. acquired a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $31,000. Ancora Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 150.0% during the first quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA acquired a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Pandora Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the first quarter worth $45,000. 86.68% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -20.61 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $17.64 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.63. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $1.13. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative net margin of 2.34% and a negative return on equity of 1.03%. The business had revenue of $611.09 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $530.66 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.07 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 68.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Sarepta Therapeutics Company Profile

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapeutics, gene therapies, and other genetic therapeutic modalities for the treatment of rare diseases. It offers EXONDYS 51 injection to treat duchenne muscular dystrophy (duchenne) in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 51 skipping; VYONDYS 53 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene that is amenable to exon 53 skipping; AMONDYS 45 for the treatment of duchenne in patients with confirmed mutation of the dystrophin gene; and ELEVIDYS, an adeno-associated virus based gene therapy for the treatment of ambulatory pediatric patients aged 4 through 5 years with duchenne with a confirmed mutation in the duchenne gene.