Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) Raised to “Strong-Buy” at Wells Fargo & Company

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) was upgraded by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore set a $649.00 price target on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $620.00 price objective on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Canaccord Genuity Group dropped their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $587.00 to $578.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $550.00 to $542.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $687.73.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

MDGL opened at $551.25 on Monday. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $286.44 and a 1-year high of $615.00. The company has a market cap of $12.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -43.07 and a beta of -1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $516.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $499.64. The company has a current ratio of 3.50, a quick ratio of 3.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($3.25) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($3.61) by $0.36. The firm had revenue of $311.34 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $301.05 million. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 27.32% and a negative return on equity of 50.15%. The business’s revenue was up 126.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($3.32) earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Madrigal Pharmaceuticals will post -7.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard S. Levy sold 5,682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $515.44, for a total value of $2,928,730.08. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 22,015 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,347,411.60. The trade was a 20.51% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider David Soergel sold 1,042 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $495.74, for a total transaction of $516,561.08. Following the transaction, the insider owned 10,033 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,973,759.42. The trade was a 9.41% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 7,568 shares of company stock valued at $3,880,711 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 17.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth about $1,165,000. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new stake in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,843,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,339,000. Penn Capital Management Company LLC purchased a new stake in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,719,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its position in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 139.7% during the fourth quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 244,796 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $142,555,000 after purchasing an additional 142,653 shares during the period. 98.50% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of innovative therapies for cardiovascular, metabolic and liver diseases. The company’s pipeline centers on novel, liver-directed agents designed to address significant unmet medical needs, with an emphasis on nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and related metabolic disorders.

The lead product candidate, resmetirom (MGL-3196), is an orally administered, selective thyroid hormone receptor-β agonist in Phase 3 development for the treatment of NASH.