Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their price target on shares of Legend Biotech from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a report on Wednesday, November 26th. Finally, Johnson Rice set a $60.00 target price on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Friday, October 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.00.

Legend Biotech Stock Performance

Legend Biotech stock opened at $20.76 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of -31.94 and a beta of 0.12. Legend Biotech has a one year low of $19.61 and a one year high of $45.30. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $24.39 and its 200 day moving average price is $31.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a current ratio of 2.86.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $272.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $277.91 million. Legend Biotech had a negative net margin of 26.37% and a negative return on equity of 24.47%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 70.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.34) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Legend Biotech will post -1.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Legend Biotech

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LEGN. Suvretta Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Legend Biotech by 1.2% during the third quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 3,818,009 shares of the company’s stock worth $124,505,000 after purchasing an additional 44,000 shares in the last quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 2,547,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,089,000 after buying an additional 425,684 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Legend Biotech by 4.6% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 1,632,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,251,000 after buying an additional 72,371 shares during the period. Matthews International Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Legend Biotech by 17.3% during the second quarter. Matthews International Capital Management LLC now owns 1,293,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $45,890,000 after buying an additional 191,165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd grew its holdings in Legend Biotech by 3.1% during the second quarter. IvyRock Asset Management HK Ltd now owns 869,900 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,873,000 after acquiring an additional 25,900 shares during the period. 70.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Legend Biotech

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.