Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $142.4375.

RYTM has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. National Bank Financial set a $160.00 target price on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $145.00 to $146.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen upgraded Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 15th.

Insider Transactions at Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Lynn A. Tetrault sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total transaction of $3,711,840.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,240. This represents a 84.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in RYTM. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $683,601,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,210,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $664,816,000 after buying an additional 1,214,489 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 17.3% during the fourth quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,666,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $713,618,000 after buying an additional 985,478 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 1,493.8% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 979,682 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,938,000 after buying an additional 918,212 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 123.2% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 918,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,323,000 after buying an additional 507,017 shares in the last quarter.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RYTM opened at $115.48 on Tuesday. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $74.50 and a 52 week high of $122.20. The company has a market capitalization of $7.91 billion, a PE ratio of -37.13 and a beta of 1.92. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $103.06 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $96.11.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.08. The company had revenue of $71.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.66 million. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 85.59% and a negative return on equity of 159.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted ($0.75) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals will post -2.86 earnings per share for the current year.

About Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical‐stage biotechnology company dedicated to developing targeted therapies for rare genetic diseases of obesity and metabolic dysfunction. The company’s research focuses on the melanocortin‐4 receptor (MC4R) pathway, which plays a central role in regulating appetite, energy expenditure and body weight. Using proprietary peptide technology, Rhythm aims to provide precision treatments to patients with specific genetic variants that disrupt normal weight regulation.

The company’s lead investigational product, setmelanotide, is a selective MC4R agonist designed to restore signaling in patients with deficiencies in genes such as POMC, LEPR and PCSK1.