Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Short Interest Up 54.9% in October

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 718,000 shares, a growth of 54.9% from the September 30th total of 463,500 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 135,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.3 days. Approximately 4.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of RIGL traded down $0.27 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $14.16. The stock had a trading volume of 101,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 150,018. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $11.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $248.62 million, a P/E ratio of -11.80 and a beta of 0.94. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $7.21 and a 1-year high of $17.30.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,367,424 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $13,864,000 after acquiring an additional 414,207 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 18.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 5,465,183 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,086,000 after buying an additional 843,419 shares during the last quarter. CM Management LLC lifted its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 17.6% in the 1st quarter. CM Management LLC now owns 2,000,000 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,960,000 after purchasing an additional 300,000 shares in the last quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter worth $2,012,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 66.23% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $15.00 price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $31.13.

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.