Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) Hits New 1-Year High on Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDGL) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock traded as high as $377.46 and last traded at $355.88, with a volume of 1187957 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $309.49.

The biopharmaceutical company reported ($2.71) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($4.32) by $1.61. The company had revenue of $103.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $97.81 million.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $427.00 target price on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, January 10th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $400.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. B. Riley increased their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $194.00 to $236.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. UBS Group increased their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $411.00 to $441.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $378.00 to $469.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $360.25.

Insider Activity at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Fred B. Craves sold 3,600 shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $315.31, for a total transaction of $1,135,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,468,410. This trade represents a 24.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO William John Sibold sold 1,584 shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.24, for a total value of $531,020.16. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 54,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,204,537.72. This represents a 2.83 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 8,690 shares of company stock worth $2,692,601. 22.80% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Paulson & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 10.4% in the third quarter. Paulson & CO. Inc. now owns 2,042,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $433,353,000 after acquiring an additional 192,000 shares during the last quarter. RTW Investments LP boosted its stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the third quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,993,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $423,100,000 after acquiring an additional 77,825 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 19.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,752 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $188,399,000 after acquiring an additional 143,038 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 867,850 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $267,792,000 after acquiring an additional 84,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 410,578 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock worth $126,719,000 after acquiring an additional 4,923 shares during the last quarter. 98.50% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 5.98 and a quick ratio of 5.93. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $321.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $283.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.39 and a beta of -0.38.

About Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development of therapeutics for the treatment of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) in the United States. Its lead product candidate is resmetirom, a liver-directed thyroid hormone receptor beta agonist, which is in Phase 3 clinical trials for treating NASH.