Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) Shares Bought by Sphera Funds Management LTD.

Sphera Funds Management LTD. raised its stake in Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCKT) by 17.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 271,792 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,000 shares during the quarter. Sphera Funds Management LTD.’s holdings in Rocket Pharmaceuticals were worth $3,416,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RCKT. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 237,499 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,985,000 after buying an additional 16,453 shares during the last quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP lifted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 403.9% in the fourth quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 84,529 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,063,000 after buying an additional 67,755 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 796.2% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 54,921 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 48,793 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 159.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,475 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 3,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in Rocket Pharmaceuticals by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 19,329 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 1,824 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.39% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RCKT has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $13.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Chardan Capital decreased their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $54.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Canaccord Genuity Group decreased their target price on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals from $36.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $50.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $42.00 price target on shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $40.82.

Insider Activity at Rocket Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CEO Gaurav Shah bought 20,000 shares of Rocket Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $5.08 per share, with a total value of $101,600.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 792,680 shares in the company, valued at $4,026,814.40. The trade was a 2.59% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Aaron Ondrey sold 7,489 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $5.29, for a total transaction of $39,616.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 129,650 shares in the company, valued at $685,848.50. This represents a 5.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 28.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 11.1%

Shares of RCKT opened at $6.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $717.60 million, a PE ratio of -2.44 and a beta of 1.02. Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 1 year low of $4.55 and a 1 year high of $26.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 6.05 and a current ratio of 6.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $10.40.

Rocket Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RCKT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 13th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.56) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.58) by $0.02. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.66) EPS. Analysts forecast that Rocket Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.