Short Interest in Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Decreases By 14.5%

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 500,500 shares, a decrease of 14.5% from the August 31st total of 585,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 170,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on RIGL. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $15.00 price objective on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 5th. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 target price on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.13.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ RIGL opened at $16.42 on Friday. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $7.12 and a 12 month high of $17.30. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.35.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.06) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.37) by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $36.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $32.38 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.40) earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Rigel Pharmaceuticals will post -0.72 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth about $2,012,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 18.2% during the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,465,183 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,086,000 after purchasing an additional 843,419 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,367,424 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $13,864,000 after purchasing an additional 414,207 shares in the last quarter. CM Management LLC grew its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 17.6% during the first quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 2,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,960,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 49.1% in the 1st quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 603,123 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $893,000 after buying an additional 198,712 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a biotechnology company, engages in discovering, developing, and providing therapies that enhance the lives of patients with hematologic disorders and cancer. The company’s commercialized products include Tavalisse, an oral spleen tyrosine kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with chronic immune thrombocytopenia; Rezlidhia, a non-intensive monotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a susceptible isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 (IDH1) mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test; and GAVRETO, a once daily, small molecule, oral, kinase inhibitor for the treatment of adult patients with metastatic rearranged during transfection (RET) fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer, as well as for the treatment of adult and pediatric patients 12 years of age and older with advanced or metastatic RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer.