Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Sells 500 Shares of Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Jason Aryeh sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $125,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 107,080 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,770,000. The trade was a 0.46% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Jason Aryeh also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, June 11th, Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND stock traded up $0.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $255.54. 247,086 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 221,643. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $110.00 and a 12 month high of $259.03. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $224.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $206.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a current ratio of 21.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 1.17.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.21). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 55.95% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The business had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,337,000. Argent Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $696,000. Cim Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 31.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 157,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,518,000 after purchasing an additional 37,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,009,891 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $201,623,000 after purchasing an additional 14,491 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LGND has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $244.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.71.

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.