Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $18.42, but opened at $19.56. Rocket Lab USA shares last traded at $18.67, with a volume of 8,347,488 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RKLB has been the topic of several analyst reports. TD Cowen raised shares of Rocket Lab USA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Citigroup dropped their target price on Rocket Lab USA from $35.00 to $33.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Rocket Lab USA from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Rocket Lab USA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Rocket Lab USA from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, March 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.06.

Rocket Lab USA Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.16, a current ratio of 2.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -51.25 and a beta of 2.06.

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by ($0.01). Rocket Lab USA had a negative net margin of 51.76% and a negative return on equity of 39.47%. The company had revenue of $132.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.58 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that Rocket Lab USA, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Rocket Lab USA

In other news, insider Frank Klein sold 1,835 shares of Rocket Lab USA stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.93, for a total transaction of $36,571.55. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,417,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $28,253,644.92. This trade represents a 0.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 13.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rocket Lab USA

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RKLB. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Rocket Lab USA by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 36,195,577 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $921,901,000 after purchasing an additional 668,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 8,285,693 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $211,084,000 after buying an additional 32,658 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in Rocket Lab USA by 30,853.3% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,696,136 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $94,141,000 after buying an additional 3,684,195 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Rocket Lab USA by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,227,617 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $82,207,000 after acquiring an additional 281,339 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Rocket Lab USA by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,902,212 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $73,919,000 after acquiring an additional 23,855 shares in the last quarter. 71.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.