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 dated Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.07, for a total transaction of $1,520,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,685,845.78. This trade represents a 13.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $288.99, for a total transaction of $1,444,950.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.6%

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $295.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.88 billion, a PE ratio of 31.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.14. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $175.89 and a twelve month high of $326.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $291.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $264.62. The company has a current ratio of 31.18, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 67.88%.The company had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.60 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly 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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.25 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LGND. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $75,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 14,166.7% in the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $181,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LGND has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price for the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $337.89.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.