Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Price Target Cut to $61.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $68.00 to $61.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on LEGN. Oppenheimer downgraded Legend Biotech from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. TD Cowen lowered their price objective on Legend Biotech from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their target price on Legend Biotech from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Legend Biotech presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.85.

Legend Biotech Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of NASDAQ LEGN opened at $19.54 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $19.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.13. Legend Biotech has a 52-week low of $16.24 and a 52-week high of $37.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.79 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,952.05 and a beta of 0.55.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 10th. The company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $359.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $361.46 million. Legend Biotech had a negative return on equity of 0.03% and a negative net margin of 0.02%. The business’s revenue was up 32.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.05) earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Legend Biotech will post -0.08 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Legend Biotech

In other news, CFO Carlos E. Santos sold 5,430 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.14, for a total transaction of $49,630.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,246 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,208.44. The trade was a 27.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Corazon (Corsee) D. Sanders sold 27,370 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.46, for a total value of $258,920.20. Following the transaction, the director owned 52,731 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $498,835.26. This represents a 34.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.02% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Legend Biotech

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Legend Biotech in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $55,307,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its position in Legend Biotech by 60.4% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 769,252 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,216,000 after acquiring an additional 289,772 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Legend Biotech by 29.5% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 521,800 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,439,000 after acquiring an additional 119,000 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in Legend Biotech by 343.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 406,901 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,361,000 after acquiring an additional 315,176 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Legend Biotech by 34.0% during the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 240,476 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,945,000 after acquiring an additional 61,023 shares during the period. 70.89% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Legend Biotech News Summary

Here’s some of the latest news about LEGN:

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term follow-up showed half of patients in a CARVYKTI study cohort were alive and progression-free without further anti-myeloma treatment five years after one infusion. Legend also received FDA clearance to begin an investigational trial of its LB2501 dual-targeting CAR-T therapy. Company release
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts cut price targets, but kept generally constructive ratings: Morgan Stanley lowered its target to $43 and retained Overweight; RBC cut to $50 but kept Outperform; Barclays cut to $61 and kept Overweight. Oppenheimer lowered its target to $25 and maintained Market Perform. Morgan Stanley ratings
• Negative Sentiment: Revenue came in slightly below consensus, and Legend revised its fourth-quarter gross-margin outlook to the high-50% range. The broad reductions in analyst price targets add to concerns about near-term expectations, even though the revised targets remain above the referenced share price. Margin outlook

About Legend Biotech

Legend Biotech is a biotechnology company focused on developing cell therapies for cancer, with an emphasis on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell treatments. Founded in 2014, the company is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, and conducts research and development activities in the United States and China. Its lead product is CARVYKTI (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), a BCMA-directed CAR-T therapy for certain adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. Legend developed the therapy with Janssen, now part of Johnson & Johnson’s Innovative Medicine business, which collaborates on its commercialization.