Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its price target lifted by equities research analysts at Citigroup from $390.00 to $397.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Citigroup’s target price suggests a potential upside of 32.85% from the stock’s current price.

LGND has been the topic of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $337.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $298.84. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 82,286 shares, compared to its average volume of 268,856. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $290.66 and a 200-day moving average price of $256.69. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 12-month low of $163.45 and a 12-month high of $326.63. The company has a market capitalization of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a quick ratio of 30.96, a current ratio of 31.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.40. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The company had revenue of $63.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 31,641 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.06, for a total transaction of $9,241,070.46. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 27,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,088,893.76. This represents a 53.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jason Haas sold 7,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.81, for a total value of $2,090,077.78. Following the sale, the director owned 3,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,165,676.61. This trade represents a 64.20% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 54,979 shares of company stock valued at $16,114,948. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 266,304 shares during the last quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth $1,359,000. GW&K Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 265.4% during the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 117,432 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $22,204,000 after purchasing an additional 85,297 shares during the last quarter. Future Fund LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 49.1% in the first quarter. Future Fund LLC now owns 13,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,763,000 after purchasing an additional 4,560 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,858 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,741,000 after purchasing an additional 21,932 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, acquires and licenses technologies designed to help pharmaceutical companies discover, develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on building a large portfolio of internally marketed drugs, Ligand operates an asset-light business model centered on partnerships, licensing agreements, royalties and other economic interests in partnered products.

The company’s principal technology is Captisol, a proprietary modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds.