Traders Buy Large Volume of Sarepta Therapeutics Call Options (NASDAQ:SRPT)

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) saw unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 1,796 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 15% compared to the average volume of 1,556 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Claude Nicaise sold 2,491 shares of Sarepta Therapeutics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.64, for a total transaction of $248,203.24. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,812 shares in the company, valued at $2,771,187.68. The trade was a 8.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 7.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sarepta Therapeutics

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Sarepta Therapeutics by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,085,456 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,104,701,000 after buying an additional 117,904 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 38.9% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,697,137 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,057,482,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437,855 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in Sarepta Therapeutics by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,358,511 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $544,408,000 after purchasing an additional 543,143 shares during the period. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 2,865,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $348,368,000 after buying an additional 285,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 32.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 2,726,613 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $340,527,000 after acquiring an additional 665,087 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.68% of the company’s stock.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of SRPT stock opened at $73.45 on Friday. Sarepta Therapeutics has a 52-week low of $73.06 and a 52-week high of $173.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $108.20 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.54. The company has a quick ratio of 3.03, a current ratio of 3.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.13 billion, a PE ratio of 58.76 and a beta of 0.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SRPT. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “sell” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Wednesday. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $105.00 to $80.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $165.00 to $161.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics from $124.00 to $99.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $202.00 price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eighteen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $167.41.

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.