Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Insider Sells $1,430,450.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total transaction of $1,430,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 36,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,446,290.26. This represents a 12.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Andrew Reardon also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, August 3rd, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.99, for a total value of $1,444,950.00.
• On Wednesday, July 1st, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.28, for a total value of $1,566,400.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4%

NASDAQ:LGND opened at $289.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 30.96, a current ratio of 31.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $161.82 and a 12-month high of $326.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $295.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $251.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings raised Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $335.75.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 17,050.0% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 343 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.