Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $245.8571.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LGND. Bank of America began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $244.00 target price for the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $270.00 to $276.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $231.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 3,057 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $687,825.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,010 shares in the company, valued at $4,727,250. This trade represents a 12.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $201.24, for a total value of $1,006,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,327,713.68. This represents a 10.78% 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. Insiders have sold 30,915 shares of company stock valued at $6,385,917 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 26.3% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 741 shares in the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $284,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,648,000 after buying an additional 138,169 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 67.6% in the fourth quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,417 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $457,000 after buying an additional 975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at $1,459,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:LGND opened at $204.92 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.09 billion, a PE ratio of 35.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 1.14. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $198.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $194.36. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $98.89 and a 12-month high of $227.92. The company has a current ratio of 22.23, a quick ratio of 21.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.56. The firm had revenue of $59.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $55.59 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.86% and a net margin of 46.42%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.27 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-9.000 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 1.73 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.