Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New Investment in Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. $SRPT

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT) in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 46,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Sarepta Therapeutics by 214.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 5,385 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 3,671 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Sarepta Therapeutics in the first quarter worth about $224,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 33.5% during the 2nd quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 45,790 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $783,000 after acquiring an additional 11,497 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 59.2% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 627,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,731,000 after buying an additional 233,391 shares during the period. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Sarepta Therapeutics by 7.1% during the second quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 115,340 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,972,000 after buying an additional 7,665 shares during the period. 86.68% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on Sarepta Therapeutics from $12.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 26th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $37.00 price target on shares of Sarepta Therapeutics in a research report on Thursday, March 19th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $29.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 26th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $9.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 26th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Sarepta Therapeutics from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and six have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sarepta Therapeutics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.81.

Sarepta Therapeutics Stock Performance

Shares of SRPT opened at $19.28 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 4.63, a quick ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of -20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 0.20 and a beta of 0.21. Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. has a 12 month low of $10.41 and a 12 month high of $25.32. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $17.85 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.34.

Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SRPT) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The biotechnology company reported $3.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.98 by $2.18. Sarepta Therapeutics had a positive return on equity of 7.56% and a negative net margin of 2.94%.The firm had revenue of $730.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $474.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($3.42) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Sarepta Therapeutics

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.