Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) was the target of a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 807,500 shares, a growth of 27.1% from the December 15th total of 635,400 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 243,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.3 days. Currently, 4.7% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,148,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 34.5% in the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 74,502 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,205,000 after purchasing an additional 19,094 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its stake in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 29.7% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 98,006 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,586,000 after purchasing an additional 22,443 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 119.4% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 48,105 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 26,184 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 1,199.2% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 21,008 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 19,391 shares in the last quarter. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 16.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ RIGL traded up $2.78 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $20.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 584,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 254,690. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $7.48 and a fifty-two week high of $29.82. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $15.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $354.59 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 143.80 and a beta of 1.31.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RIGL. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $23.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday. B. Riley boosted their price objective on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Three research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Rigel Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.20.

About Rigel Pharmaceuticals

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.