Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,439,339 shares, an increase of 21.8% from the December 15th total of 2,824,418 shares. Currently, 20.8% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 588,760 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 588,760 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.8 days. Currently, 20.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $32.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rigel Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.20.

Institutional Trading of Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Armistice Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 5.5% in the second quarter. Armistice Capital LLC now owns 1,600,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $29,968,000 after purchasing an additional 84,000 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 623,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $11,664,000 after purchasing an additional 57,959 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 63.0% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 601,333 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $17,036,000 after buying an additional 232,383 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 415,607 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,786,000 after buying an additional 4,439 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 110.6% during the 3rd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 360,966 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $10,226,000 after buying an additional 189,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of RIGL traded down $0.30 on Monday, reaching $37.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 275,143 shares, compared to its average volume of 552,456. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $15.50 and a twelve month high of $52.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $680.26 million, a PE ratio of 6.07 and a beta of 1.11. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $43.30 and a 200-day moving average of $34.77.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The biotechnology company reported $1.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.53. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 204.70% and a net margin of 40.17%.The firm had revenue of $69.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.88 million. Equities analysts predict that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post 0.22 EPS for the current year.

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).