Rocket Lab USA Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NASDAQ:RKLB)

Rocket Lab USA, Inc. (NASDAQ:RKLB) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors acquired 20,727 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 13% compared to the typical volume of 18,281 call options.

Rocket Lab USA Stock Down 3.2 %

NASDAQ:RKLB opened at $6.74 on Tuesday. Rocket Lab USA has a 1 year low of $3.47 and a 1 year high of $7.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $5.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $4.59. The stock has a market cap of $3.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -18.22 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.82, a quick ratio of 2.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90.

Rocket Lab USA (NASDAQ:RKLB) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The rocket manufacturer reported ($0.08) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.10) by $0.02. Rocket Lab USA had a negative return on equity of 34.12% and a negative net margin of 54.17%. The business had revenue of $106.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $105.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.10) EPS. Rocket Lab USA’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Rocket Lab USA will post -0.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Rocket Lab USA

In other news, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 62,512 shares of Rocket Lab USA stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,321,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,195,308.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Director Michael D. Griffin sold 39,446 shares of Rocket Lab USA stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $6.90, for a total transaction of $272,177.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 42,353 shares in the company, valued at approximately $292,235.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Adam C. Spice sold 62,512 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $6.96, for a total transaction of $435,083.52. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,321,165 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,195,308.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 130,521 shares of company stock valued at $906,059 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 13.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 9.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,000,578 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $119,192,000 after purchasing an additional 2,448,789 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Rocket Lab USA by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 95,704 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $529,000 after acquiring an additional 16,115 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 18.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 38,074 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 5,838 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 40.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 91,619 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock worth $440,000 after acquiring an additional 26,605 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Rocket Lab USA by 2.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 294,054 shares of the rocket manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 6,534 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.78% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on RKLB. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a research report on Tuesday, June 11th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $4.50 target price for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $6.00 price objective on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered Rocket Lab USA from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $8.00 to $6.00 in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and set a $7.00 target price on shares of Rocket Lab USA in a research report on Tuesday, June 18th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Rocket Lab USA from $5.45 to $7.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.75.

Rocket Lab USA 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.