Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Up 14.6% Following Analyst Upgrade

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB)’s stock price was up 14.6% during trading on Friday after KeyCorp raised their price target on the stock from $8.00 to $11.00. KeyCorp currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Rocket Lab USA traded as high as $10.29 and last traded at $9.96. Approximately 20,588,729 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 118% from the average daily volume of 9,442,452 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.69.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on RKLB. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Rocket Lab USA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $8.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $7.00 target price on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. JMP Securities initiated coverage on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $7.00 price target on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rocket Lab USA currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $6.68.

Insider Activity

In other Rocket Lab USA news, Director Michael D. Griffin sold 39,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total transaction of $272,177.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 42,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,235.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 62,512 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total transaction of $435,083.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,321,165 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,195,308.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael D. Griffin sold 39,446 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total transaction of $272,177.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 42,353 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,235.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 130,521 shares of company stock worth $906,059 over the last 90 days. 13.70% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab USA

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Rocket Lab USA by 9.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,000,578 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $119,192,000 after buying an additional 2,448,789 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC purchased a new position in Rocket Lab USA during the 2nd quarter worth $5,469,000. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. raised its position in Rocket Lab USA by 217.1% during the 1st quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,284,060 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $5,277,000 after buying an additional 879,160 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its position in Rocket Lab USA by 25.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,123,591 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $10,193,000 after buying an additional 432,501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARK Investment Management LLC raised its position in Rocket Lab USA by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC now owns 6,297,073 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $30,226,000 after buying an additional 391,778 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Lab USA Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $6.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $4.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a current ratio of 2.82. The firm has a market cap of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of -26.92 and a beta of 1.27.

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.08) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.10) by $0.02. The business had revenue of $106.25 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $105.47 million. Rocket Lab USA had a negative net margin of 54.17% and a negative return on equity of 34.12%. The business’s revenue was up 71.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.10) EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Rocket Lab USA, Inc. will post -0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Rocket Lab USA Company Profile

Rocket Lab USA, Inc, a space company, provides launch services and space systems solutions for the space and defense industries. The company provides launch services, spacecraft design services, spacecraft components, spacecraft manufacturing, and other spacecraft and on-orbit management solutions; and constellation management services, as well as designs and manufactures small and medium-class rockets.