Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Sells $108,250.60 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director John Kozarich sold 467 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.80, for a total transaction of $108,250.60. Following the sale, the director directly owned 41,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,685,994.80. The trade was a 1.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LGND opened at $213.21 on Friday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $98.89 and a twelve month high of $247.38. The company’s 50 day moving average is $214.48 and its 200 day moving average is $201.85. The company has a current ratio of 21.28, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.20.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.21). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.The business had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.33 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.46 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LGND has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $244.00 price objective on the stock. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,232,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 541,845 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,982,000 after purchasing an additional 202,103 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,648,000 after purchasing an additional 138,169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,809,000 after purchasing an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.