Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) Stock Rating Cut to Market Perform at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners downgraded shares of Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. Leerink Partners currently has $117.00 price objective on the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $110.00.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a report on Friday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered Halozyme Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Zacks Research raised shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from $78.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $106.73.

Halozyme Therapeutics Price Performance

Shares of HALO opened at $103.63 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $115.19 and a 200-day moving average of $84.73. Halozyme Therapeutics has a 1 year low of $61.22 and a 1 year high of $134.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.50, a current ratio of 3.88 and a quick ratio of 3.60.

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.39 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 751.81% and a net margin of 26.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Halozyme Therapeutics will post 8.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Halozyme Therapeutics

In other news, Director Matthew L. Posard sold 5,230 shares of Halozyme Therapeutics stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total transaction of $567,664.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 53,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,818,720.86. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 that occurred on Thursday, October 8th. The stock was 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 directly owned 767,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,995,132. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 124,226 shares of company stock worth $13,370,893. 2.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HALO. MidFirst Bank purchased a new position in Halozyme Therapeutics during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in Halozyme Therapeutics in the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Halozyme Therapeutics during the second quarter worth $30,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in Halozyme Therapeutics during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Hedge funds and other 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.