Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of RNA-based therapeutics for the treatment of both rare and infectious diseases, are seeing a huge rally in trading today. At last check, SRPT shares were trading 170.11% higher at $40.49 on above average volume of 12.41 million. SRPT shares hit a 52-week high of $43.12 in trading today.
SRPT shares are soaring after the biopharmaceutical company announced that treatment with its lead exon-skipping compound, eteplirsen, met the primary efficacy endpoint, increase in novel dystrophin, and achieved a significant clinical benefit on the primary clinical outcome.
Chris Garabedian, President and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics, said that he is extremely pleased about these data, as they demonstrate that longer-term treatment with eteplirsen is translating to continued and unprecedented increases in both dystrophin production and clinical benefit across various subgroups of DMD patients involved in the study.
Shares of Kraton Performance Polymers Inc. (NYSE: KRA), a global producer of styrenic block copolymers (SBCs) and other engineered polymers, are down sharply in trading today. At last check, KRA was trading 8.05% lower at $23.19 on volume of 233,749. KRA shares hit an intra-day low of $23.08 in trading today.
KRA shares have slipped in trading today after a rating downgrade from Macquarie. Analysts at Macquarie downgraded KRA from Outperform to Neutral rating. Macquarie has a price target of $28 on KRA.
Shares of Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN), a provider of residential and commercial mortgage loan servicing, special servicing and asset management services, are seeing a huge rally in trading today. At last check, OCN shares were trading 17.40% higher at $34 on above average volume of 4.11 million. OCN shares hit a 52-week high of $34.98 in trading today.
OCN shares are soaring in trading today after the company signed a definitive agreement with WL Ross & Co. LLC, a private equity firm, under which OCN will acquire Homeward Residential Holdings Inc. for approximately $588 million in cash and $162 million in OCN convertible preferred stock.
Ron Faris, CEO of Ocwen, said that Homeward has a well-deserved reputation for excellence in the mortgage industry and the company is excited about the synergistic combination of the attractive servicing portfolio and platform, as well as the origination platform.
Shares of Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), a provider of agricultural products for farmers, are down sharply in trading today. At last check, MON shares were trading 2% lower at $88.85 on volume of 2.85 million. MON shares hit an intra-day low of $87.57 in trading today.
MON shares are falling after the company reported its fourth-quarter financial results. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012, MON reported net sales of $2.1 billion. Net sales for the full fiscal year were $13.5 billion. The company reported a net loss of $229 million for the fourth quarter, compared to a net loss of $112 million reported for the same period in the previous year. For fiscal year 2012, MON reported net income of $2 billion.
Hugh Grant, Chairman and CEO of Monsanto, said that MON has proven its business on a global stage with back-to-back years of tremendous performance and momentum. Grant said that with more waves of innovation and global opportunities than ever before, he is confident that by building off what the company accomplished in 2012, it can achieve steady growth in fiscal 2013.
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