Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND Shares Purchased by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 256.6% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 22,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 16,406 shares during the period. Squarepoint Ops LLC’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $7,207,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 86.3% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 17,050.0% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 343 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,040.0% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 342 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 312 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the topic of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Citigroup assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America raised their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Nine 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 $335.75.

Insider Transactions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Jason Haas sold 7,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.81, for a total value of $2,090,077.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,165,676.61. This represents a 64.20% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total value of $1,430,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 36,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,446,290.26. The trade was a 12.04% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 55,924 shares of company stock valued at $16,317,778 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LGND opened at $289.25 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a current ratio of 31.18. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $295.64 and a 200 day moving average of $251.77. The firm has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $161.82 and a one year high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $63.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.60 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, acquires and licenses technologies designed to help pharmaceutical companies discover, develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on building a large portfolio of internally marketed drugs, Ligand operates an asset-light business model centered on partnerships, licensing agreements, royalties and other economic interests in partnered products.

The company’s principal technology is Captisol, a proprietary modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds.