Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Sells $94,441.41 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director John Kozarich sold 467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.23, for a total value of $94,441.41. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 42,253 shares in the company, valued at $8,544,824.19. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

LGND stock opened at $199.59 on Friday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $93.58 and a fifty-two week high of $227.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $197.69 and a 200-day moving average of $193.24. The company has a market capitalization of $3.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 21.98 and a current ratio of 22.23.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $59.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.59 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 46.42% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The company’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at $2,789,955,000. Acuitas Investments LLC increased its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,922.9% in the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 402,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $71,298,000 after acquiring an additional 382,597 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,809,000 after acquiring an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 676.6% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 254,805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,136,000 after acquiring an additional 221,996 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 541,845 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,982,000 after acquiring an additional 202,103 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LGND. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $231.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $244.00 price objective on the stock. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $245.86.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.