Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Trading 10.3% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL)’s stock price rose 10.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $36.25 and last traded at $36.2880. 273,692 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 28% from the average session volume of 380,333 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.91.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RIGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.50.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.62, a quick ratio of 2.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $663.56 million, a PE ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.25 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.83.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.36). The company had revenue of $58.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.40 million. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 121.50% and a return on equity of 47.99%. On average, equities analysts expect that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Rigel Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Kamil Ali-Jackson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.17, for a total transaction of $72,925.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,625 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $368,271.25. This trade represents a 16.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 10.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. IFP Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,264 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% during the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 28,803 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 546 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 27,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Range Financial Group LLC boosted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,655 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $628,000 after acquiring an additional 570 shares during the period. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).