Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the six brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.6667.

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on RIGL shares. Wall Street Zen cut Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research upgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total value of $145,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 12,722 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $462,571.92. This represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 9.48% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. IFP Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,264 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,000 after purchasing an additional 405 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 27,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 45,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,968,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,655 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $628,000 after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 234.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. 66.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $27.53 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $508.56 million, a P/E ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 2.42, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $31.34 and a 200-day moving average of $35.47. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $15.50 and a 52 week high of $52.24.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $1.14 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.19). Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 79.84% and a net margin of 124.72%.The company had revenue of $69.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $68.70 million. On average, analysts expect that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals

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).