Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Insider Sells $1,520,350.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $304.07, for a total transaction of $1,520,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,685,845.78. This represents a 13.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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.

Andrew Reardon also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, September 3rd, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total transaction of $1,430,450.00.
• On Monday, August 3rd, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.99, for a total transaction of $1,444,950.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $9.83 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $296.94. 162,775 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 270,576. The stock has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $291.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $262.79. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $175.89 and a 12-month high of $326.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 31.18 and a quick ratio of 30.96.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The firm had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. The company’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. As a group, analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LGND has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. 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. Barclays started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, September 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $345.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $397.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $337.89.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of LGND. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% in the second quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $328,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 118.9% during the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 256.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $7,207,000 after acquiring an additional 16,406 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and licenses technologies and drug assets to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners. Rather than operating primarily as a traditional commercial drug manufacturer, Ligand focuses on building a portfolio of royalty agreements, licensing arrangements and other partnerships that can generate payments when partnered products are developed, approved and sold.

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