Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL) Shares Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:RIGL - Free Report) by 111.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 299,709 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 157,763 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned about 1.70% of Rigel Pharmaceuticals worth $5,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals by 44.5% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,603 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $145,000 after purchasing an additional 2,648 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,827 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $181,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. purchased a new position in Rigel Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $193,000. 66.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Raul R. Rodriguez sold 4,952 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 value of $103,595.84. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 243,854 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,101,425.68. This represents a 1.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP David A. Santos sold 2,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $20.92, for a total value of $44,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 53,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,119,220. The trade was a 3.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 9,113 shares of company stock valued at $190,644. Insiders own 9.04% of the company's stock.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RIGL traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $18.63. 12,497 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 207,468. The company has a market capitalization of $332.88 million, a P/E ratio of 132.94 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a fifty day moving average of $19.11 and a 200 day moving average of $19.50. Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has a twelve month low of $7.48 and a twelve month high of $29.82.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:RIGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, March 4th. The biotechnology company reported $0.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.50. The firm had revenue of $57.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $57.59 million. Rigel Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 2.46% and a negative return on equity of 14.80%. On average, research analysts expect that Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will post 0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. StockNews.com cut Rigel Pharmaceuticals from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 8th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. B. Riley boosted their target price on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Rigel Pharmaceuticals from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Rigel Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $36.80.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals 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.