Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Sells $342,000.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total value of $342,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,645. This represents a 23.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of LGND opened at $275.20 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $292.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $254.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a current ratio of 31.18. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $163.45 and a 1 year high of $326.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.49 billion, a PE ratio of 29.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 1.11.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. Analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 118.9% during the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 256.6% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,207,000 after buying an additional 16,406 shares during the last quarter. JW Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $1,264,000. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $275,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LGND has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Leerink Partners initiated coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $335.75.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, acquires and licenses technologies designed to help pharmaceutical companies discover, develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on building a large portfolio of internally marketed drugs, Ligand operates an asset-light business model centered on partnerships, licensing agreements, royalties and other economic interests in partnered products.

The company’s principal technology is Captisol, a proprietary modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds.