Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) Shares Down 9.2% – Time to Sell?

Shares of Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) dropped 9.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $17.43 and last traded at $17.57. Approximately 6,579,398 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 14,738,406 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.34.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on RKLB. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Rocket Lab USA from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, March 10th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Rocket Lab USA from $22.00 to $21.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. TD Cowen raised shares of Rocket Lab USA to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of Rocket Lab USA from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Rocket Lab USA from $26.00 to $31.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.06.

Rocket Lab USA Stock Down 8.5 %

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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $22.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $19.94. The company has a market capitalization of $7.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.24 and a beta of 2.06.

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $132.39 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $130.58 million. Rocket Lab USA had a negative return on equity of 39.47% and a negative net margin of 51.76%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Rocket Lab USA, Inc. will post -0.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Frank Klein sold 44,553 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.18, for a total transaction of $809,973.54. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,419,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,806,128.22. This represents a 3.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 13.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new position in shares of Rocket Lab USA during the third quarter valued at $116,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in Rocket Lab USA by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 241,472 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 12,753 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in Rocket Lab USA during the 3rd quarter valued at about $325,000. Centiva Capital LP bought a new position in Rocket Lab USA in the 3rd quarter worth about $116,000. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 79.0% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 228,890 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,229,000 after purchasing an additional 101,004 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

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.