Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Receives “Buy” Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $166.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 24.20% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $151.00 to $157.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $141.00 to $185.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $160.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $224.00 price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $130.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 14th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.60.

Sarepta Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of SRPT stock traded up $3.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $133.66. 1,196,284 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 876,130. The company has a quick ratio of 3.45, a current ratio of 4.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a market cap of $12.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 1,215.09 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $125.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.81. Sarepta Therapeutics has a fifty-two week low of $55.25 and a fifty-two week high of $159.89.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The biotechnology company reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by $0.84. Sarepta Therapeutics had a return on equity of 2.20% and a net margin of 1.20%. The business had revenue of $413.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $375.52 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.44) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 2.14 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sarepta Therapeutics

In other news, Director Kathryn Jean Boor sold 761 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.93, for a total transaction of $93,549.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $923,941.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, Director Hans Lennart Rudolf Wigzell sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.25, for a total transaction of $1,848,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 22,840 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,815,030. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Kathryn Jean Boor sold 761 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.93, for a total value of $93,549.73. Following the transaction, the director now owns 7,516 shares in the company, valued at approximately $923,941.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 22,096 shares of company stock worth $2,739,419. 7.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRPT. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 160.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 4,741,485 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $457,221,000 after buying an additional 2,917,797 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $80,697,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Sarepta Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $50,990,000. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Avoro Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,344,444 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $418,935,000 after purchasing an additional 319,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Americas LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $29,813,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.68% of the company’s stock.

About Sarepta Therapeutics

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.