Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $239.3333.

LGND has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Benchmark lifted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, December 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $270.00 target price on the stock. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $190.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director John W. Kozarich sold 467 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.58, for a total transaction of $88,533.86. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 43,654 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,275,925.32. The trade was a 1.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 1,804 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.31, for a total transaction of $339,711.24. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 26,186 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,931,085.66. This trade represents a 6.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 3,205 shares of company stock valued at $608,923 over the last ninety days. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,688 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $527,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 39,718 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,036,000 after acquiring an additional 1,703 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,789,955,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $196.56 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $196.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.51. The company has a current ratio of 24.69, a quick ratio of 24.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $93.58 and a 12 month high of $212.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 94.96 and a beta of 0.97.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The biotechnology company reported $3.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.96 by $1.13. The firm had revenue of $86.89 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.71 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 19.34% and a return on equity of 5.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 123.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.84 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.400-7.650 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that acquires, develops and out-licenses proprietary technologies designed to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies discover and develop novel medicines. Operating primarily through its research services and royalty-generating businesses, Ligand focuses on building a diversified portfolio of technology platforms and partnering with industry leaders to advance therapeutic candidates across multiple disease areas.

The company’s product offerings center around several core platforms.