Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $26.20, but opened at $27.97. Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $31.0250, with a volume of 229,592 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on RIGL shares. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $71.00 to $69.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $51.50.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 9.1%

The firm has a market capitalization of $528.84 million, a PE ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.36). Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 121.50% and a return on equity of 47.99%. The business had revenue of $58.82 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $62.40 million. Analysts forecast that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rigel Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total value of $145,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,571.92. This trade represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RIGL. State Street Corp raised its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 96.9% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,091,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,737,000 after purchasing an additional 536,905 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 390.8% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 544,282 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,312,000 after buying an additional 433,382 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 309.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 431,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $18,479,000 after buying an additional 326,159 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 601,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,036,000 after buying an additional 232,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 110.6% in the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 360,966 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,226,000 after buying an additional 189,542 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).