Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued an outperform rating and a $75.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on LEGN. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Legend Biotech from $94.00 to $90.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 13th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Legend Biotech from $54.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, December 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Legend Biotech from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut their price target on Legend Biotech from $75.00 to $74.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Legend Biotech from $83.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.80.

Legend Biotech Stock Performance

Shares of LEGN opened at $23.60 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $25.89 and a 200 day moving average of $32.23. The company has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -36.31 and a beta of 0.12. Legend Biotech has a 12 month low of $20.21 and a 12 month high of $45.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.86, a quick ratio of 2.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 12th. The company reported ($0.11) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.13) by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $272.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $277.91 million. Legend Biotech had a negative return on equity of 24.47% and a negative net margin of 26.37%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 70.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.34) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Legend Biotech will post -1.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Legend Biotech

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its holdings in Legend Biotech by 100.4% during the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 118,774 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,215,000 after acquiring an additional 59,498 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its position in shares of Legend Biotech by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 148,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,277,000 after purchasing an additional 64,956 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 26.6% during the second quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 50,056 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,776,000 after purchasing an additional 10,519 shares in the last quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Legend Biotech during the first quarter valued at approximately $537,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. bought a new position in Legend Biotech in the second quarter worth approximately $382,000. 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.