Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Shares Sold by abrdn plc

abrdn plc lessened its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 290,418 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 29,711 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $20,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of LGND. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 73.3% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,690 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 6,215 shares in the last quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 17.7% during the third quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,386 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares in the last quarter. Strs Ohio raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 15.3% during the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 11,300 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $677,000 after acquiring an additional 1,500 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 95.1% during the third quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 441 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.6% during the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 4,650 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $279,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on LGND shares. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, April 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director Stephen L. Sabba sold 1,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.30, for a total transaction of $140,649.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 28,926 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,149,201.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 10.40% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $69.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41 and a beta of 1.01. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $49.24 and a one year high of $94.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $74.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.86.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The biotechnology company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.55. The firm had revenue of $28.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.54 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 37.80% and a return on equity of 11.98%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets worldwide. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Rylaze, a recombinant erwinia asparaginase for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients; Filspari, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist in development for rare kidney diseases and non-immunosuppressive treatment indicated for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Teriparatide injection product for osteoporosis; Vaxneuvance for the prevention of invasive disease caused by streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes; and Pneumosil, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia among children.