HC Wainwright Reaffirms “Buy” Rating for Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN)

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by analysts at HC Wainwright in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 99.44% from the stock’s current price.

LEGN has been the subject of several other reports. Truist Financial downgraded shares of Legend Biotech from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Oppenheimer initiated coverage on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $75.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Legend Biotech from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $58.31.

Legend Biotech Trading Up 18.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:LEGN opened at $25.07 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -31.34 and a beta of 0.08. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $18.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $23.35. Legend Biotech has a 12 month low of $16.24 and a 12 month high of $45.30.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 11th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.17) by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $306.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $310.21 million. Legend Biotech had a negative net margin of 28.86% and a negative return on equity of 21.93%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 64.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.07 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Legend Biotech will post 0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Legend Biotech news, CEO Ying Huang sold 9,936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $8.77, for a total value of $87,138.72. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 247,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,170,031.26. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Legend Biotech

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Legend Biotech in the third quarter worth about $7,581,000. Mutual of America Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Legend Biotech in the third quarter worth about $2,691,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its holdings in Legend Biotech by 6,774.9% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 371,728 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,081,000 after purchasing an additional 366,321 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Legend Biotech by 20.1% in the third quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,547,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,089,000 after purchasing an additional 425,684 shares during the period. Finally, Connective Portfolio Management LLC purchased a new stake in Legend Biotech in the third quarter worth about $805,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.89% of the company’s stock.

Legend Biotech Company Profile

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ: LEGN) is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies for oncology. Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, with research and development operations in Shanghai, the company leverages a global infrastructure to advance innovative cellular therapies. Legend Biotech pursues a strategy of strategic collaboration to extend its reach, most notably through its partnership with Janssen Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The company’s lead asset, ciltacabtagene autoleucel (commercially marketed as Carvykti), is a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)–directed CAR-T therapy for the treatment of relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.