Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) Raised to Strong-Buy at Citigroup

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) was upgraded by investment analysts at Citigroup to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Barclays dropped their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $964.00 to $962.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Bank of America cut their price target on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $542.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $605.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $710.20.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $513.21 on Wednesday. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $393.61 and a fifty-two week high of $615.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -39.81 and a beta of -0.98. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $527.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $513.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 2.94 and a current ratio of 3.20.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($1.99) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.68) by $0.69. The business had revenue of $364.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $352.13 million. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 25.32% and a negative return on equity of 56.65%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 71.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.90) EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Madrigal Pharmaceuticals will post -7.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, General Counsel Shannon T. Kelley sold 664 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $514.97, for a total value of $341,940.08. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 11,474 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,908,765.78. This represents a 5.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CEO William Sibold sold 5,221 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $542.39, for a total value of $2,831,818.19. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 197,746 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $107,255,452.94. This represents a 2.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold a total of 12,247 shares of company stock valued at $6,581,182 over the last three months. Company insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 2.0% in the second quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $555,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 35.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 172 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. Persistent Asset Partners Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 4,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $2,209,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc (NASDAQ: MDGL) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for cardiometabolic diseases, particularly nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, now commonly referred to as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

The company’s lead product is Rezdiffra (resmetirom), an oral, thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist designed to target underlying liver disease. In 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Rezdiffra for use with diet and exercise to treat adults with noncirrhotic MASH and moderate to advanced liver fibrosis.