Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Sells $342,000.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total value of $342,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,645. This trade represents a 23.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.3%

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock traded down $3.82 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $280.65. The stock had a trading volume of 158,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 269,812. The company has a market cap of $5.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.02, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $294.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.48. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $161.82 and a 52 week 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $63.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The company’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and set a $326.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $335.75.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 29,208.5% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 6,970,733 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,203,379,000 after purchasing an additional 6,946,949 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 worth $93,809,000 after buying an additional 266,304 shares during the period. Ranger Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,424,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 385,028.9% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 146,349 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $27,670,000 after acquiring an additional 146,311 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $24,813,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.