Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG) Rating Increased to Hold at Jefferies Financial Group

Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG – Get Rating) was upgraded by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm presently has a $47.20 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock, down from their previous target price of $49.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 4.77% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on GLPG. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Galapagos from $63.00 to $57.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 7th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on Galapagos from €50.00 ($54.35) to €40.00 ($43.48) in a report on Friday, November 11th. StockNews.com began coverage on Galapagos in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Barclays cut their price objective on Galapagos from €60.00 ($65.22) to €50.00 ($54.35) and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 14th. Finally, Raymond James lowered Galapagos from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 7th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.46.

Galapagos Stock Down 2.5 %

NASDAQ GLPG opened at $45.05 on Monday. Galapagos has a twelve month low of $37.24 and a twelve month high of $72.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.36 and a 200 day moving average of $46.18.

Galapagos (NASDAQ:GLPG – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The biotechnology company reported $0.33 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($1.17) by $1.50. The company had revenue of $137.28 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.42 million. Galapagos had a return on equity of 0.25% and a net margin of 1.13%. Analysts predict that Galapagos will post -1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Galapagos

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OLD Mission Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Galapagos in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,343,000. Monaco Asset Management SAM acquired a new position in Galapagos in the third quarter valued at approximately $426,000. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in Galapagos by 566.2% in the second quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 216,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $12,081,000 after acquiring an additional 184,000 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in Galapagos in the second quarter valued at approximately $16,866,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Galapagos in the second quarter valued at approximately $829,000. 19.45% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Galapagos Company Profile

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Galapagos NV is a biotechnology company, which engages in the identification and development of small molecule and antibody therapies. Its clinical pipeline includes filgotinib, GLP3667, Toledo program, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The company was founded by Onno van de Stolpe, Rudi Pauwels, and Helmuth van Es on June 30, 1999 and is headquartered in Mechelen, Belgium.