Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN) Stock Price Up 4.5% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Legend Biotech shares rose 4.5% to $18.69, although trading volume was 92% below the average session level.
• Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with nine Buy, five Hold and one Sell rating and an average price target of $55.07; however, several firms recently lowered their targets or ratings.
• The company beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $0.09 per share and $387.5 million in revenue, up 51.9% year over year, but it remains unprofitable with negative margins and analysts expect a full-year loss.

Legend Biotech Corporation Sponsored ADR (NASDAQ:LEGN - Get Free Report) shares were up 4.5% on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $18.70 and last traded at $18.6870. 188,369 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,412,927 shares. The stock had previously closed at $17.88.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LEGN has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group reissued a "buy" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Legend Biotech in a research note on Monday, September 28th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Legend Biotech from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $40.00 in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Legend Biotech from a "sell (e+)" rating to a "sell (d-)" rating in a report on Friday, October 2nd. TD Cowen reduced their target price on shares of Legend Biotech from $29.00 to $24.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on Legend Biotech from $58.00 to $56.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.07.

Legend Biotech Stock Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -77.60 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $19.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.61.

Legend Biotech (NASDAQ:LEGN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 11th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $387.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $355.96 million. Legend Biotech had a negative return on equity of 8.71% and a negative net margin of 7.21%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 51.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Legend Biotech Corporation Sponsored ADR will post -0.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Corazon (Corsee) D. Sanders sold 27,370 shares of Legend Biotech stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.46, for a total value of $258,920.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 52,731 shares in the company, valued at $498,835.26. The trade was a 34.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Carlos Santos sold 5,430 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.14, for a total value of $49,630.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 14,246 shares of the company's stock, valued at $130,208.44. This trade represents a 27.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 0.02% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Legend Biotech

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LEGN. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 343.6% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 406,901 shares of the company's stock worth $7,361,000 after purchasing an additional 315,176 shares during the period. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Legend Biotech in the first quarter valued at about $4,039,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Legend Biotech in the second quarter valued at about $2,369,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Legend Biotech by 29.5% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 521,800 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,439,000 after purchasing an additional 119,000 shares during the period. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Legend Biotech by 34.0% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 240,476 shares of the company's stock worth $6,945,000 after buying an additional 61,023 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.89% of the company's stock.

About Legend Biotech

Legend Biotech Corporation NASDAQ: LEGN is a biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing cell therapies for cancer and other serious diseases. Its research centers on chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, which use genetically modified immune cells to recognize and attack cancer cells.

The company's leading product is Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel), a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed CAR-T therapy for certain adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.

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