Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND Shares Acquired by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 2.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 95,716 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,886 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.48% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $19,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings 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 valued at $27,050,000 after buying an additional 31,081 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% during the fourth quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 26,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after acquiring an additional 9,944 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised 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 valued at $93,809,000 after acquiring an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,858 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $24,741,000 after acquiring an additional 21,932 shares during the period. Finally, One Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,756,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LGND has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $319.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of LGND stock opened at $304.26 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 21.28 and a quick ratio of 20.95. The company has a market cap of $6.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.28, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $268.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $227.16. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1-year low of $129.55 and a 1-year high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.21). The company had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 55.95% and a return on equity of 16.19%. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Jason Haas sold 6,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.58, for a total transaction of $1,651,302.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at $1,273,043.98. This represents a 56.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.88, for a total value of $1,151,790.08. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 26,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,765,982.72. The trade was a 14.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,698 shares of company stock valued at $9,019,252. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals 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.