Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Director John Kozarich Sells 459 Shares

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director John Kozarich sold 459 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $224.00, for a total transaction of $102,816.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 41,786 shares in the company, valued at $9,360,064. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND stock opened at $218.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a current ratio of 21.28. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $98.89 and a one year high of $247.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $201.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.71, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.20.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued 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 company had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LGND has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a “buy” rating and a $244.00 price target on the stock. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ligand Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $257.71.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,232,000 after buying an additional 22,629 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 541,845 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $95,982,000 after buying an additional 202,103 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $97,648,000 after buying an additional 138,169 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,809,000 after buying an additional 266,304 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.