Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) Sets New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. (NYSE:TAK) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday. The stock traded as high as $19.41 and last traded at $19.8380, with a volume of 21,418 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $19.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on TAK. Zacks Research cut Takeda Pharmaceutical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Takeda Pharmaceutical from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Stock Up 4.4%

The company has a market cap of $63.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 58.48 and a beta of -0.07. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.26. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE:TAK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.54. Takeda Pharmaceutical had a return on equity of 10.95% and a net margin of 3.80%. The company had revenue of $7.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.13 billion. Takeda Pharmaceutical has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.009-3.009 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. will post 1.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew Plump sold 165,393 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.10, for a total transaction of $2,828,220.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 766,569 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,108,329.90. The trade was a 17.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Lauren Duprey sold 47,586 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.10, for a total transaction of $813,720.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 226,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,865,574.70. The trade was a 17.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 627,457 shares of company stock worth $10,981,175. Corporate insiders own 0.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in TAK. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 2,989,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,358,000 after purchasing an additional 370,800 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical by 20.6% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 1,289,326 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,878,000 after purchasing an additional 219,999 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical by 11.0% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 614,851 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,386,000 after purchasing an additional 60,725 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Takeda Pharmaceutical by 19.0% in the first quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 431,602 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,993,000 after buying an additional 68,844 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new position in Takeda Pharmaceutical during the 2nd quarter worth about $712,000. 9.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a global biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes prescription medicines and vaccines, with a focus on gastrointestinal and inflammatory diseases, rare diseases, plasma-derived therapies, oncology, neuroscience and vaccines.

Takeda’s portfolio includes treatments such as Entyvio for inflammatory bowel disease, Takhzyro for hereditary angioedema, Iclusig and Ninlaro for certain blood cancers, and Trintellix for major depressive disorder.