Short Interest in Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Expands By 22.7%

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 560,700 shares, an increase of 22.7% from the January 15th total of 456,900 shares. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 301,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.9 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Rigel Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Dean L. Schorno sold 2,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.92, for a total transaction of $42,593.12. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 58,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,233,631.48. This represents a 3.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Raul R. Rodriguez sold 4,952 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.92, for a total value of $103,595.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 243,854 shares in the company, valued at $5,101,425.68. This trade represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 9,113 shares of company stock valued at $190,644 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 9.04% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Rigel Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in RIGL. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $63,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 44.5% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,603 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $145,000 after buying an additional 2,648 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 42.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,429 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 2,827 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $181,000. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $184,000. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on RIGL. B. Riley increased their price objective on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $17.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $40.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 12th. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $57.00 price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Piper Sandler raised their price target on Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $15.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Rigel Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.20.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

RIGL traded up $0.71 on Friday, hitting $21.57. 194,008 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 262,255. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $19.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.44. Rigel Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $7.48 and a 12 month high of $29.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $379.85 million, a PE ratio of 154.08 and a beta of 1.34.

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.