Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Leerink Partners

Leerink Partners started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $330.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on LGND. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $387.00 price target for the company. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $335.75.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $294.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a current ratio of 31.18. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $149.51 and a 52 week high of $326.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.13. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $291.80 and a 200-day moving average of $238.57.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 67.88%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.60 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $227.06, for a total transaction of $1,135,300.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the director directly owned 102,580 shares in the company, valued at $25,645,000. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 71,976 shares of company stock valued at $20,075,721 over the last three months. Insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,009,891 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $201,623,000 after purchasing an additional 14,491 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,232,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,648,000 after buying an additional 138,169 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after buying an additional 266,304 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $93,336,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares during the last quarter. 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.