Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. $RIGL Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) by 133.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,646 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 27,843 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,315,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth about $191,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 14.8% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,366 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 130.7% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 4,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,000 after purchasing an additional 2,442 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 27,065 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $317,000. 66.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on RIGL. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $81.00 target price (up from $69.00) on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 target price on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $54.50.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 2.6%

Rigel Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $38.06 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $704.19 million, a PE ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 1.14. Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 12 month low of $20.28 and a 12 month high of $52.24. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.62 and a quick ratio of 2.48.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 121.50% and a return on equity of 47.99%. The business had revenue of $58.82 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $62.40 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 3.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Rigel Pharmaceuticals news, Director Kamil Ali-Jackson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $87,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 10,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $354,375. This trade represents a 19.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Corporate insiders own 10.47% of the company’s stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals 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).