Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Trading Down 5.1% – Here’s Why

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RIGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. Zacks Research upgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 18th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.67.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 2.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $30.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.41. The stock has a market cap of $559.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.27.

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

Insider Activity at Rigel Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.36, for a total value of $145,440.00. Following the sale, the director owned 12,722 shares in the company, valued at $462,571.92. This represents a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 10.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 21.8% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,264 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,000 after buying an additional 405 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 27,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $507,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Range Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 45,938 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,968,000 after buying an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,655 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $628,000 after buying an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AlphaQuest LLC raised its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 234.8% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 1,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 775 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

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).