Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Reduces Position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 67.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,685 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after selling 5,600 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $644,000 after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $344,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,660 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,121,000 after acquiring an additional 809 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 9.8% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 55,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,817,000 after acquiring an additional 4,926 shares during the period. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 176.2% in the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,882,000 after purchasing an additional 23,553 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LGND shares. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $262.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $326.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.0%

Shares of LGND opened at $300.79 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.03 billion, a PE ratio of 40.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 1.13. The company’s fifty day moving average is $282.10 and its 200 day moving average is $233.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a current ratio of 21.28. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $132.21 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director Jason Haas sold 6,461 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.58, for a total transaction of $1,651,302.38. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $1,273,043.98. This trade represents a 56.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen L. Sabba sold 2,145 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.00, for a total value of $544,830.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 33,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,541,766. This trade represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 35,231 shares of company stock worth $9,199,401 in the last three months. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.