Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Shares Down 5.1% – Time to Sell?

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) shares were down 5.1% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $30.60 and last traded at $30.6450. Approximately 165,364 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 370,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $32.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on RIGL shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $45.67.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 2.30 and a current ratio of 2.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $35.48. The company has a market cap of $568.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.27.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, March 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $1.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.33 by ($0.19). Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 79.84% and a net margin of 124.72%.The business had revenue of $69.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.70 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Rigel Pharmaceuticals

In other Rigel Pharmaceuticals news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total transaction of $145,440.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,722 shares in the company, valued at approximately $462,571.92. The trade was a 23.92% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 10.47% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,310,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,235,000. Alps Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $578,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 64.0% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 36,215 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 14,135 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,286,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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).