HC Wainwright Reaffirms Buy Rating for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)

HC Wainwright reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. HC Wainwright currently has a $144.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $95.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, June 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $122.25.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND stock opened at $98.00 on Monday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $49.24 and a one year high of $99.10. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.44 and its 200 day moving average is $77.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 1.01.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $3.01. The company had revenue of $30.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.92 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 79.30% and a return on equity of 8.52%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.96 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $446,818.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,026,024.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $446,818.96. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 23,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,026,024.14. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Nancy Ryan Gray sold 934 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.20, for a total transaction of $77,708.80. Following the sale, the director now owns 5,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $468,665.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock worth $2,150,882 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LGND. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% during the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 14,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,049,000 after buying an additional 185 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 32,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,390,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% during the second quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC now owns 17,112 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,442,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Burney Co. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 13.4% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company 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.