Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Price Target Raised to $388.00 at Bank of America

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its price objective hoisted by equities research analysts at Bank of America from $266.00 to $388.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 23.22% from the stock’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Citigroup raised their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $292.86.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ LGND opened at $314.88 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $6.31 billion, a PE ratio of 42.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.57 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day moving average of $252.48 and a 200 day moving average of $219.42. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $116.44 and a 1 year high of $326.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 21.28 and a quick ratio of 20.95.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 4.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 102,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,645,000. This represents a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.88, for a total value of $1,151,790.08. Following the transaction, the director owned 26,969 shares in the company, valued at $6,765,982.72. This trade represents a 14.55% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 35,698 shares of company stock valued at $9,019,252. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LGND. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 143,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,050,000 after acquiring an additional 31,081 shares during the last quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% in the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 26,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 9,944 shares during the period. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.7% in the third quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 82,991 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $14,701,000 after purchasing an additional 11,858 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after purchasing an additional 266,304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,858 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,741,000 after purchasing an additional 21,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.