Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Earns “Buy” Rating from HC Wainwright

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by research analysts at HC Wainwright in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $50.00 target price on the stock. HC Wainwright’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 81.49% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Legend Biotech from $90.00 to $80.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Legend Biotech from $49.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Truist Financial lowered Legend Biotech from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 20th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $59.00.

Legend Biotech Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LEGN opened at $27.55 on Monday. Legend Biotech has a twelve month low of $16.24 and a twelve month high of $45.30. The firm has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a P/E ratio of -40.51 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $21.29 and a 200 day moving average of $22.62.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by ($0.01). Legend Biotech had a negative return on equity of 24.92% and a negative net margin of 21.98%.The business had revenue of $305.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $306.51 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.07) EPS. Legend Biotech’s quarterly revenue was up 56.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Legend Biotech will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ying Huang sold 9,936 shares of Legend Biotech stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $8.77, for a total value of $87,138.72. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 247,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,170,031.26. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.02% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Suvretta Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. Suvretta Capital Management LLC now owns 6,608,629 shares of the company’s stock valued at $143,672,000 after purchasing an additional 2,790,620 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 120.5% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 2,174,535 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,274,000 after purchasing an additional 1,188,449 shares during the period. Davern Capital Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Legend Biotech during the fourth quarter valued at $22,972,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 4,129.8% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 755,953 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,434,000 after purchasing an additional 738,081 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of Legend Biotech during the second quarter valued at $15,790,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.89% of the company’s stock.

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.