Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Given “Buy” Rating at HC Wainwright

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $358.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 20.95% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on LGND. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $337.89.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LGND traded down $3.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $295.99. The stock had a trading volume of 35,340 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $290.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $258.03. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $166.10 and a 52 week high of $326.63. The company has a current ratio of 31.18, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Jason Haas sold 7,138 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.81, for a total value of $2,090,077.78. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,676.61. This trade represents a 64.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was 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 directly owned 36,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,446,290.26. This trade represents a 12.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,979 shares of company stock worth $16,114,948. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Cim Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. 1492 Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $391,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Ligand Pharmaceuticals News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Barclays began coverage of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) with an Overweight rating and a $345 price target, citing approximately 16% potential upside. The new coverage expands the stock’s analyst sponsorship. Barclays coverage of Ligand Pharmaceuticals
• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright reaffirmed its Buy rating and raised or maintained a $358 price target, implying roughly 21% upside. Citigroup also expressed expectations for appreciation in Ligand’s shares. Citigroup analyst expects Ligand stock to rise
• Positive Sentiment: Ligand committed up to $47 million to AvenCell Therapeutics through a financing agreement supporting next-generation, controllable allogeneic CAR-T therapies. The deal gives LGND potential exposure to a high-growth cancer-treatment platform and future development milestones or royalties. Ligand and AvenCell financing agreement

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.