Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) has been given an average rating of “Buy” by the eight research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $336.5714.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $326.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 102,580 shares in the company, valued at $25,645,000. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.88, for a total transaction of $1,151,790.08. Following the sale, the director owned 26,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,765,982.72. This trade represents a 14.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,197 shares of company stock valued at $8,744,572. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth about $52,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in 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. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,040.0% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 342 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of LGND opened at $288.82 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.89, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 1.13. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $149.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63. The company has a quick ratio of 20.95, a current ratio of 34.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $290.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.17.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 67.88%.The firm had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 4.89 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.