43,908 Shares in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $RYTM Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RYTM) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 43,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,875,000. Legal & General Group Plc owned approximately 0.06% of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in RYTM. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 148.2% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 39,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,085,000 after acquiring an additional 23,506 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 6.4% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,282 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,874,000 after buying an additional 2,126 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 62.9% during the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 7,095 shares of the company’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 2,740 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its position in shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 11.2% in the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 240,345 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,187,000 after buying an additional 24,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Rhythm Pharmaceuticals by 10.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 33,145 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,095,000 after acquiring an additional 3,004 shares in the last quarter.

Insider Transactions at Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Lynn A. Tetrault sold 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.32, for a total value of $3,711,840.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $702,240. This represents a 84.09% decrease in their position. 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. Also, EVP Jennifer Lee sold 75,834 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.38, for a total value of $8,901,394.92. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 54,233 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,365,869.54. This represents a 58.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 245,450 shares of company stock valued at $27,374,837 in the last ninety days. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Citizens Jmp upped their price target on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 28th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $120.00 price target for the company. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $133.00 price objective on Rhythm Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Fifteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Rhythm Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $141.12.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of RYTM stock opened at $104.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $7.19 billion, a PE ratio of -33.73 and a beta of 1.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $97.08. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $74.50 and a 12 month high of $122.20.

Rhythm Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RYTM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported ($0.73) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.08. The business had revenue of $71.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.66 million. Rhythm Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 85.59% and a negative return on equity of 159.87%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 46.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.75) EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -2.87 EPS for the current year.

About Rhythm Pharmaceuticals

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.