Barclays Begins Coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)

Equities researchers at Barclays started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) in a research report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm set an “overweight” rating and a $345.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.37% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $397.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday. Leerink Partners began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $358.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $337.89.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:LGND opened at $299.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 31.18 and a quick ratio of 30.96. The stock has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.98, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $290.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $258.03. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $163.45 and a one year high of $326.63.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total transaction of $342,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,897 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,645. The trade was a 23.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jason Haas sold 7,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.81, for a total transaction of $2,090,077.78. Following the sale, the director owned 3,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,165,676.61. The trade was a 64.20% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 54,979 shares of company stock worth $16,114,948 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC raised its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the period. 1492 Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $391,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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.