Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) shares gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $26.20, but opened at $27.97. Rigel Pharmaceuticals shares last traded at $31.0250, with a volume of 229,592 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RIGL. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $81.00 price objective (up from $69.00) on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $54.50.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 2.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $590.58 million, a PE ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.21. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.55 and its 200-day moving average is $35.51.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 5th. The biotechnology company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.80 by ($0.36). Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 47.99% and a net margin of 121.50%.The business had revenue of $58.82 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.40 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rigel Pharmaceuticals news, Director Walter H. Moos sold 4,000 shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 20th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $462,571.92. The trade was a 23.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 10.47% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 12.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 30,192 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $816,000 after purchasing an additional 3,399 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 2.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 66,669 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 1,844 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 37.1% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 379,541 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $10,259,000 after purchasing an additional 102,729 shares in the last quarter. Watershed Asset Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter valued at approximately $443,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 133.8% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 48,646 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,315,000 after purchasing an additional 27,843 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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).