Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Downgraded to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on RIGL. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $42.00 in a research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Rigel Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.20.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.6%

NASDAQ:RIGL opened at $37.64 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.04. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $15.50 and a 52-week high of $52.24. The company has a market cap of $683.17 million, a PE ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a current ratio of 2.28.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $1.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.53. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 40.17% and a return on equity of 204.70%. The company had revenue of $69.46 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.88 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Armistice Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 84,000 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 10.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 623,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,664,000 after purchasing an additional 57,959 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 63.0% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 601,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,036,000 after buying an additional 232,383 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 415,607 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,786,000 after acquiring an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 110.6% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 360,966 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,226,000 after purchasing an additional 189,542 shares during the period. 66.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).