Fiera Capital Corp Buys Shares of 131,236 Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Fiera Capital Corp purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 131,236 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $24,813,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp grew its position 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 valued at $85,232,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,336,000 after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.6% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $81,112,000 after purchasing an additional 61,209 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 64.6% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 378,295 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $67,011,000 after purchasing an additional 148,437 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.06, for a total transaction of $1,135,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 41,382 shares in the company, valued at $9,396,196.92. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen L. Sabba sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $207.87, for a total value of $207,870.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 32,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,816,680.91. This represents a 2.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 22,025 shares of company stock valued at $4,851,266. Corporate insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LGND has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $257.71.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.3%

LGND opened at $237.75 on Tuesday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $103.43 and a 52 week high of $247.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $221.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $205.40. The firm has a market cap of $4.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 20.95, a current ratio of 21.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 14th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.21). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.The firm had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.10 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.47 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.