Needham & Company LLC Lowers Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) Price Target to $130.00

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) had its target price dropped by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $139.00 to $130.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 43.63% from the company’s previous close.

RYTM has been the subject of several other research reports. Guggenheim increased their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $140.00 to $143.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $150.00 to $136.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Telsey Advisory Group set a $143.00 target price on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $141.00 to $140.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.75.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.6%

Shares of NASDAQ RYTM opened at $90.51 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $102.91. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a PE ratio of -29.10 and a beta of 2.06. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $45.90 and a 12-month high of $122.20.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.79) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $57.25 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $56.16 million. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 266.56% and a negative net margin of 103.57%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 36.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.72) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals will post -4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Hunter C. Smith sold 4,385 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $101.26, for a total transaction of $444,025.10. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 110,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,190,445.12. The trade was a 3.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Christopher Paul German sold 5,614 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.56, for a total value of $502,789.84. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,329.60. This represents a 97.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 27,267 shares of company stock worth $2,719,955 over the last ninety days. 6.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 39.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,996,427 shares of the company’s stock valued at $504,589,000 after purchasing an additional 1,407,313 shares during the period. RA Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 17.3% in 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 during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 1,493.8% in 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 during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 445.5% during the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 783,559 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,513,000 after buying an additional 639,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors acquired a new position in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $60,417,000.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.