Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) Sees Large Volume Increase Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) saw an uptick in trading volume on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $10.00 to $30.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. 13,521,038 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 27% from the previous session’s volume of 10,653,604 shares.The stock last traded at $17.68 and had previously closed at $18.83.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on RKLB. JMP Securities began coverage on Rocket Lab USA in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Rocket Lab USA from $7.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Rocket Lab USA from $5.25 to $13.50 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Rocket Lab USA from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on Rocket Lab USA from $7.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Rocket Lab USA presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $14.72.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rocket Lab USA news, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 62,512 shares of Rocket Lab USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total value of $435,083.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 1,321,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,195,308.40. The trade was a 4.52 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Arjun Kampani sold 28,563 shares of Rocket Lab USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total value of $198,798.48. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 637,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,437,403.68. The trade was a 4.29 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 130,521 shares of company stock valued at $906,059 in the last quarter. 13.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rocket Lab USA

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 9.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,000,578 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $119,192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,789 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 934.5% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 98,176 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $10,090,000 after purchasing an additional 88,686 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 40.9% in the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,619 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 26,605 shares during the period. Venture Visionary Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Rocket Lab USA in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $886,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 294,054 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 6,534 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Lab USA Trading Down 7.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $8.62 billion, a PE ratio of -48.86 and a beta of 1.29. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $9.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $6.70.

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 12th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.11) by $0.01. Rocket Lab USA had a negative return on equity of 37.95% and a negative net margin of 51.76%. The company had revenue of $104.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $102.74 million. Equities analysts expect that Rocket Lab USA, Inc. will post -0.39 EPS for the current year.

About Rocket Lab USA

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.