Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) CFO Sells $2,762,856.09 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 13,423 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.83, for a total value of $2,762,856.09. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 21,662 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,458,689.46. The trade was a 38.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Octavio Espinoza also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, December 12th, Octavio Espinoza sold 1,804 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.31, for a total value of $339,711.24.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:LGND traded down $4.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $201.90. The stock had a trading volume of 188,625 shares, compared to its average volume of 212,053. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.63 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $194.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $186.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 21.98 and a current ratio of 22.23. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $93.58 and a one year high of $212.49.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.56. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 46.42% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The firm had revenue of $59.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $55.59 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter worth $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,232,000 after acquiring an additional 22,629 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 667,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $118,207,000 after purchasing an additional 19,370 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 541,845 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,982,000 after purchasing an additional 202,103 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,648,000 after purchasing an additional 138,169 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on LGND. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $231.00 to $239.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.17.

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.