Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) Stock Price Down 2.8% on Insider Selling

Rocket Lab Corporation (NASDAQ:RKLB) shares fell 2.8% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $53.09 and last traded at $53.96. 23,635,830 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 14% from the average session volume of 20,787,281 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.49.

Specifically, CEO Peter Beck sold 939,746 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.73, for a total transaction of $51,432,298.58. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter Beck sold 1,560,254 shares of Rocket Lab stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.47, for a total value of $89,667,797.38. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 939,746 shares in the company, valued at approximately $54,007,202.62. This trade represents a 62.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In other news, Director Merline Saintil sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.00, for a total transaction of $975,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 398,529 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,904,385. This represents a 3.63% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RKLB has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Baird R W raised Rocket Lab to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $63.00 price target on shares of Rocket Lab in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Rocket Lab from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $75.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Rocket Lab in a research note on Tuesday, November 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $58.17.

Rocket Lab Stock Down 2.8%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 3.18 and a quick ratio of 2.83. The stock has a market cap of $28.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -142.00 and a beta of 2.20. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $54.74 and its 200 day moving average is $46.60.

Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 10th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.03) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.05) by $0.02. Rocket Lab had a negative return on equity of 27.26% and a negative net margin of 35.64%.The firm had revenue of $155.08 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $152.45 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.10) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 48.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Rocket Lab Corporation will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Rocket Lab

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in Rocket Lab in the 2nd quarter valued at $192,918,000. Sender Co & Partners Inc. bought a new stake in Rocket Lab in the first quarter valued at about $621,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its position in Rocket Lab by 44.7% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 992,777 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $35,512,000 after purchasing an additional 306,713 shares in the last quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC raised its position in Rocket Lab by 91.3% in the second quarter. McGuire Investment Group LLC now owns 196,107 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $7,015,000 after purchasing an additional 93,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in Rocket Lab by 6.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,128,536 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $38,057,000 after purchasing an additional 128,907 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

Rocket Lab 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.