Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Zacks reports.

Several other analysts have also recently weighed in on HALO. Citizens Jmp upped their price objective on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from $93.00 to $149.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 6th. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a research note on Friday, August 7th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics from $105.00 to $130.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 13th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Halozyme Therapeutics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Halozyme Therapeutics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $108.18.

Halozyme Therapeutics Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:HALO opened at $100.67 on Wednesday. Halozyme Therapeutics has a 52 week low of $61.22 and a 52 week high of $134.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 13.50, a quick ratio of 3.60 and a current ratio of 3.88. The company’s fifty day moving average is $114.77 and its 200-day moving average is $85.36. The company has a market capitalization of $11.48 billion, a PE ratio of 25.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.92.

Halozyme Therapeutics (NASDAQ:HALO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $2.39 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by $0.09. Halozyme Therapeutics had a net margin of 26.93% and a return on equity of 751.81%. The business had revenue of $492.97 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $491.63 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Halozyme Therapeutics will post 8.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Halozyme Therapeutics news, Director Matthew Posard sold 5,230 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.54, for a total value of $567,664.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 53,609 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,818,720.86. This trade represents a 8.89% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Helen Torley sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $109.40, for a total transaction of $2,188,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 767,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $83,995,132. This represents a 2.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 124,226 shares of company stock valued at $13,370,893 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 2.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Halozyme Therapeutics

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Halozyme Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $214,504,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $196,540,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $105,570,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec acquired a new stake in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics in the 2nd quarter valued at $83,940,000. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its position in shares of Halozyme Therapeutics by 85.6% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 2,281,615 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $251,890,000 after acquiring an additional 1,052,509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.79% of the company’s stock.

About Halozyme Therapeutics

Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing drug-delivery technologies and medicines. Its ENHANZE platform uses a recombinant human hyaluronidase enzyme, rHuPH20, to temporarily modify tissue under the skin and help enable the subcutaneous administration of certain biologic medicines that might otherwise require intravenous infusion. Halozyme licenses ENHANZE to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners, which use the technology in their own products. The company also markets Hylenex recombinant, a hyaluronidase product used to facilitate the dispersion and absorption of other injected medicines and fluids.