F m Investments LLC Lowers Stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

F m Investments LLC lowered its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,130 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 5,346 shares during the quarter. F m Investments LLC’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $8,722,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,789,955,000. Acuitas Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,922.9% during the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 402,494 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $71,298,000 after buying an additional 382,597 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 676.6% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 254,805 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $45,136,000 after buying an additional 221,996 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 buying an additional 202,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 64.6% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 378,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $67,011,000 after buying an additional 148,437 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Here are the key news stories impacting Ligand Pharmaceuticals this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada raised its price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals to $262 from $252 and kept an outperform rating, implying further upside from current levels. Royal Bank Of Canada raises Ligand price target
• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright reiterated a Buy rating and a $289 price target, while also forecasting strong earnings growth into 2026 and 2027, which may be reinforcing bullish sentiment in LGND shares.
• Positive Sentiment: Ligand reported first-quarter results showing 56% year-over-year royalty revenue growth and reaffirmed its previously raised 2026 guidance, helped by anticipated contribution from the pending XOMA Royalty acquisition. Ligand Reports First Quarter 2026 Financial Results
• Neutral Sentiment: Ligand’s Q1 earnings snapshot highlighted mixed results: EPS of $1.63 missed the $1.84 consensus and revenue of $51.72 million also fell short of estimates, though sales still grew 14.1% year over year. Ligand: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LGND has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $244.00 target price on the stock. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.71.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $221.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a PE ratio of 30.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.20. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $98.89 and a 12-month high of $247.38. The company has a quick ratio of 21.98, a current ratio of 21.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $212.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $200.56.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.33 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.31, for a total value of $1,156,550.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 41,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,572,070.42. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John W. Kozarich sold 467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.23, for a total transaction of $94,441.41. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 42,253 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,544,824.19. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 35,448 shares of company stock worth $7,450,977 in the last quarter. Insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

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.