Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Cut to “Strong Sell” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) from a strong-buy rating to a strong sell rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $42.00 in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rigel Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RIGL opened at $37.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $688.43 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.15 and a beta of 1.11. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $15.50 and a 1 year high of $52.24. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.14.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.53. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 40.17% and a return on equity of 204.70%. The firm had revenue of $69.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.88 million. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RIGL. AlphaQuest LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 234.8% in the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 775 shares in the last quarter. RMG Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1,773.3% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,810 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc purchased a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $55,000. Finally, Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $62,000. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by 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).