Morgan Stanley Lowers Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Price Target to $49.00

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) had its price target decreased by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $50.00 to $49.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 157.22% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on LEGN. Oppenheimer started coverage on Legend Biotech in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald decreased their price objective on Legend Biotech from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. TD Cowen restated a “hold” rating and set a $21.00 target price (down from $62.00) on shares of Legend Biotech in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a report on Monday, December 29th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $58.31.

Legend Biotech Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LEGN opened at $19.05 on Wednesday. Legend Biotech has a 12 month low of $16.24 and a 12 month high of $45.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -23.81 and a beta of 0.07. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.38.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 10th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.18. The company had revenue of $306.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.21 million. Legend Biotech had a negative net margin of 28.86% and a negative return on equity of 21.93%. Legend Biotech’s revenue for the quarter was up 64.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Legend Biotech will post -1.31 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Legend Biotech

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LEGN. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Legend Biotech by 73.1% in the 4th quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 6,608,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,672,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790,620 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 120.5% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,174,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $47,274,000 after buying an additional 1,188,449 shares in the last quarter. Davern Capital Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Legend Biotech in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $22,972,000. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 87.5% in the second quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,122,268 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,319,000 after buying an additional 990,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in Legend Biotech by 4,129.8% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 755,953 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,434,000 after acquiring an additional 738,081 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.89% of the company’s stock.

About Legend Biotech

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ: LEGN) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies for oncology. Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, with research and development operations in Shanghai, the company leverages a global infrastructure to advance innovative cellular therapies. Legend Biotech pursues a strategy of strategic collaboration to extend its reach, most notably through its partnership with Janssen Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The company’s lead asset, ciltacabtagene autoleucel (commercially marketed as Carvykti), is a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)–directed CAR-T therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.