Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) Receives “Sell” Rating from HC Wainwright

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT)‘s stock had its “sell” rating restated by analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $5.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target suggests a potential downside of 70.17% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $45.00 to $38.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Mizuho raised Sarepta Therapeutics from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $19.00 to $26.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Sarepta Therapeutics from $22.00 to $19.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Sarepta Therapeutics from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.16.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Down 4.0%

SRPT stock opened at $16.76 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.22. Sarepta Therapeutics has a twelve month low of $10.41 and a twelve month high of $108.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of -1.99, a PEG ratio of 0.27 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.48, a current ratio of 2.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 25th. The biotechnology company reported ($3.58) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.87) by ($2.71). The firm had revenue of $442.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $390.95 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a negative return on equity of 50.74% and a negative net margin of 38.34%.The company’s quarterly revenue was down 32.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.90 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sarepta Therapeutics news, COO Ian Michael Estepan sold 13,187 shares of Sarepta Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.31, for a total transaction of $294,201.97. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 193,300 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,312,523. This trade represents a 6.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 7.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SRPT. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,810,729 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $254,167,000 after purchasing an additional 993,283 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 454.6% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,796,535 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $167,781,000 after buying an additional 6,390,860 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH lifted its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 2,728,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,727,000 after acquiring an additional 43,000 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 2,251,593 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $48,454,000 after acquiring an additional 268,829 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 1,992,577 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $42,880,000 after acquiring an additional 52,796 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.68% of the company’s stock.

Sarepta Therapeutics Company Profile

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of precision genetic medicines for rare neuromuscular diseases. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Sarepta’s core expertise lies in designing RNA-targeted therapies and gene therapies that address underlying genetic mutations. The company’s mission is to transform the treatment paradigm for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and related disorders through innovative modalities.

Sarepta’s commercial products include several exon-skipping therapies approved by the U.S.