Gibbs Wealth Management Has $1.11 Million Position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Gibbs Wealth Management raised its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 66.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,563 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,215 shares during the quarter. Gibbs Wealth Management’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $1,111,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LGND. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,232,000 after acquiring an additional 22,629 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,648,000 after purchasing an additional 138,169 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after purchasing an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,112,000 after purchasing an additional 61,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.28, for a total transaction of $1,566,400.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,514 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,505.92. This represents a 10.75% decrease in their position. The transaction 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 Jason Haas sold 6,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.58, for a total value of $1,651,302.38. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,273,043.98. This represents a 56.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 35,698 shares of company stock worth $9,019,252 over the last ninety days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America raised their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $262.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target on the stock. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of LGND stock opened at $300.53 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 1.10. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $129.55 and a 12-month high of $326.63. The company has a quick ratio of 20.95, a current ratio of 21.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $271.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $228.46.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.21). The firm had revenue of $51.72 million for 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 quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.