Zacks Research Upgrades Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) to Hold

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

RIGL has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their price objective on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, December 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $23.00 to $42.00 in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Rigel Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.27 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.91. 75,815 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 360,526. The company has a current ratio of 2.28, a quick ratio of 2.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.22. The firm has a market cap of $669.83 million, a P/E ratio of 5.98 and a beta of 1.11. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $15.50 and a 52-week high of $52.24.

Institutional Trading of Rigel Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RIGL. State Street Corp increased its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 96.9% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,091,223 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $46,737,000 after purchasing an additional 536,905 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 390.8% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 544,282 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,312,000 after purchasing an additional 433,382 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 309.7% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 431,460 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $18,479,000 after purchasing an additional 326,159 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 63.0% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 601,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $17,036,000 after purchasing an additional 232,383 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd boosted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 110.6% in the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 360,966 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,226,000 after buying an additional 189,542 shares during the last quarter. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).