Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the five analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $36.00.

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on Galapagos in a research note on Wednesday, November 26th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Galapagos from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Galapagos in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Galapagos from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th.

Institutional Trading of Galapagos

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Galapagos by 2,490.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,416,934 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $49,083,000 after buying an additional 1,362,229 shares during the period. EcoR1 Capital LLC grew its position in Galapagos by 569.0% during the 2nd quarter. EcoR1 Capital LLC now owns 1,036,945 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $29,024,000 after acquiring an additional 881,939 shares during the last quarter. UBS Group AG grew its position in Galapagos by 128.4% during the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 349,444 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,427,000 after acquiring an additional 196,445 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Galapagos by 121.9% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 339,354 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,097,000 after purchasing an additional 186,452 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in Galapagos in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,359,000. 32.46% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Galapagos Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GLPG opened at $33.87 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $33.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $32.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -21.57 and a beta of 0.24. Galapagos has a one year low of $22.59 and a one year high of $37.78.

Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG) last announced its earnings results on Monday, February 23rd. The biotechnology company reported $2.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $2.01. The company had revenue of $1.06 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $80.10 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Galapagos will post -1.6 EPS for the current year.

About Galapagos

Galapagos NV (NASDAQ:GLPG) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium, focused on the discovery and development of novel small-molecule therapies. Established in 1999 through the merger of Tibotec and Progenix, Galapagos has built a research platform targeting chronic inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and oncology. The company’s discovery engine integrates human genetics, translational biology and medicinal chemistry to identify and optimize drug candidates with unique modes of action.

The company’s pipeline encompasses multiple programs across various stages of development.