Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Downgraded to “Strong Sell” Rating by Zacks Research

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, December 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

RIGL opened at $37.64 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $35.04. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $15.50 and a 1-year high of $52.24. The company has a market capitalization of $683.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.10 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 2.28 and a quick ratio of 2.14.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.53. The firm had revenue of $69.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.88 million. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 40.17% and a return on equity of 204.70%. Research analysts predict that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Range Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 45,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,968,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $2,235,000. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 82.0% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,768 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 5,754 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 251.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 34,960 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $990,000 after purchasing an additional 25,013 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc bought a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

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).