Royal Bank of Canada Has $22.27 Million Stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 2.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 111,543 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,747 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $22,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in LGND. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,232,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after buying an additional 266,304 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $81,112,000 after purchasing an additional 61,209 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on LGND shares. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $262.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price objective for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $326.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.88, for a total value of $1,151,790.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,765,982.72. This trade represents a 14.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.99, for a total transaction of $1,444,950.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,514 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,997,130.86. The trade was a 10.75% 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 have sold 35,231 shares of company stock worth $9,199,401. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.6%

LGND stock opened at $302.57 on Thursday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $132.21 and a 1-year high of $326.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 21.28 and a quick ratio of 20.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $283.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $234.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.13.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.