Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) Cut to “Market Perform” at Leerink Partners

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) was downgraded by research analysts at Leerink Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $117.00 target price on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $110.00. Leerink Partners‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 12.90% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on HALO. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Halozyme Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Halozyme Therapeutics from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Halozyme Therapeutics from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Halozyme Therapeutics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $106.73.

Halozyme Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:HALO opened at $103.63 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.50, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.88. Halozyme Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $61.22 and a 52 week high of $134.00. The firm has a market cap of $11.81 billion, a PE ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $115.19 and its 200-day moving average is $84.73.

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.30 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $492.97 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $491.63 million. Halozyme Therapeutics had a net margin of 26.93% and a return on equity of 751.81%. The company’s revenue was up 39.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.72 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Halozyme Therapeutics will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Halozyme Therapeutics

In other Halozyme Therapeutics news, Director Matthew L. Posard sold 5,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total value of $567,664.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 53,609 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,818,720.86. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helen Torley sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total value of $2,188,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 767,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,995,132. The trade was a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 124,226 shares of company stock valued at $13,370,893 in the last 90 days. 2.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Halozyme Therapeutics during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in Halozyme Therapeutics by 98.0% during the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 303 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. MidFirst Bank bought a new position in Halozyme Therapeutics during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Institutional investors own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

About Halozyme Therapeutics

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on developing drug-delivery technologies and medicines. Its ENHANZE platform uses a recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, rHuPH20, to temporarily modify tissue under the skin and help enable the subcutaneous administration of certain biologic medicines that might otherwise require intravenous infusion.

Halozyme licenses ENHANZE to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners, which use the technology in their own products. The company also markets Hylenex recombinant, a hyaluronidase product used to facilitate the dispersion and absorption of other injected medicines and fluids.

Founded in 1998 and based in San Diego, California, Halozyme serves patients in multiple countries through its own commercial activities and, particularly for ENHANZE-enabled medicines, through its licensing partners.