William Blair Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 371,771 Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDGL)

William Blair Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:MDGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 371,771 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock, valued at approximately $114,717,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned approximately 1.70% of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MDGL. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Madrigal Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,749,000. Paulson & CO. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Paulson & CO. Inc. now owns 2,042,000 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $433,353,000 after acquiring an additional 192,000 shares during the last quarter. Braidwell LP purchased a new stake in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $39,010,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 19.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 887,752 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $188,399,000 after acquiring an additional 143,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RTW Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. RTW Investments LP now owns 1,993,687 shares of the biopharmaceutical company’s stock valued at $423,100,000 after acquiring an additional 77,825 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on MDGL. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $378.00 to $469.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $427.00 price objective on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, January 10th. B. Riley raised shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $236.00 to $422.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals from $400.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Madrigal Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $378.44.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

MDGL opened at $342.44 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 5.93, a current ratio of 5.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a market cap of $7.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -13.65 and a beta of -0.41. Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a 52-week low of $189.00 and a 52-week high of $377.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $326.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $291.44.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($2.71) earnings per share (EPS) 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post -23.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Madrigal Pharmaceuticals

In other news, VP Robert E. Waltermire sold 442 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.41, for a total value of $120,847.22. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 5,058 shares in the company, valued at $1,382,907.78. This represents a 8.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, General Counsel Shannon T. Kelley sold 277 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $273.41, for a total transaction of $75,734.57. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 7,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,106,624.05. This trade represents a 3.47 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 35,900 shares of company stock valued at $12,168,079 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 22.80% of the company’s stock.

Madrigal Pharmaceuticals Profile

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.