Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $45.67.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.3%

RIGL opened at $26.55 on Friday. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $15.50 and a twelve month high of $52.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $36.62. The company has a market cap of $490.38 million, a PE ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.10.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.19). Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 79.84% and a net margin of 124.72%.The firm had revenue of $69.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.70 million. Sell-side analysts expect that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rigel Pharmaceuticals news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total value of $145,440.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,571.92. This trade represents a 23.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 9.04% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $4,310,000. Armistice Capital LLC grew its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,600,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,968,000 after buying an additional 84,000 shares in the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $578,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 64.0% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $678,000 after acquiring an additional 14,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth $1,286,000. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in South San Francisco, California. Founded in 2003, Rigel focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule therapeutics targeting immune, hematologic and oncologic diseases. Leveraging a proprietary chemistry platform and expertise in signal transduction pathways, the company aims to address significant unmet medical needs in both rare and common disorders.

Rigel’s lead product, fostamatinib (commercially known as Tavalisse®), is an oral spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) inhibitor approved in the United States for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP).