Sarepta Therapeutics' (SRPT) Buy Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Needham & Company LLC reiterated their buy rating on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Free Report) in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $205.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $176.00 to $160.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. William Blair raised shares of Sarepta Therapeutics to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $182.00 target price on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded Sarepta Therapeutics from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $152.00 to $167.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $150.00 price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sarepta Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $181.33.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Down 7.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:SRPT traded down $9.76 during trading on Thursday, hitting $118.21. 1,546,889 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,229,456. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $126.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $132.85. The company has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 264.54 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a current ratio of 3.90, a quick ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.05. Sarepta Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $75.85 and a 52 week high of $173.25.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $362.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $394.38 million. Sarepta Therapeutics had a return on equity of 5.32% and a net margin of 3.14%. Sarepta Therapeutics's revenue for the quarter was up 38.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.27) EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sarepta Therapeutics will post 1.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sarepta Therapeutics

In other news, CFO Ian Michael Estepan sold 5,985 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $137.36, for a total transaction of $822,099.60. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at $4,662,822.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Sarepta Therapeutics news, Director Michael Andrew Chambers bought 37,038 shares of Sarepta Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was bought at an average price of $133.80 per share, with a total value of $4,955,684.40. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 284,034 shares in the company, valued at $38,003,749.20. The trade was a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Ian Michael Estepan sold 5,985 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.36, for a total transaction of $822,099.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 33,946 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,662,822.56. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 7.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Sarepta Therapeutics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SRPT. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 102.8% in the first quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,453,500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $317,630,000 after acquiring an additional 1,243,427 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 693.7% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 363,011 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $57,356,000 after acquiring an additional 317,277 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 2,257.8% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 240,500 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $31,135,000 after purchasing an additional 230,300 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 146.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 270,941 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $42,809,000 after purchasing an additional 160,942 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 303.7% in the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 174,282 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $27,537,000 after purchasing an additional 131,112 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.68% of the company's stock.

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.