Lazard Asset Management LLC Grows Holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $RYTM

Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) by 28.6% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 32,888 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 7,317 shares during the quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,860,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,210,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $664,816,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,489 shares in the last quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its position in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 17.3% during the 4th quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,666,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $713,618,000 after buying an additional 985,478 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 1,493.8% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 979,682 shares of the company’s stock valued at $98,938,000 after buying an additional 918,212 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 123.2% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 918,567 shares of the company’s stock worth $98,323,000 after acquiring an additional 507,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 64.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 985,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $105,444,000 after acquiring an additional 386,839 shares in the last quarter.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RYTM. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $143.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $133.00 price objective on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $144.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.73.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 6.1%

RYTM opened at $99.25 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $100.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $95.97. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $74.50 and a twelve month high of $122.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.71 and a beta of 1.88.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.83) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.86) by $0.03. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 93.33% and a negative return on equity of 203.25%. The company had revenue of $60.11 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.81) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 83.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -3.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Lynn A. Tetrault sold 37,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value 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 $702,240. This represents a 84.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.