Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock Price

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its target price increased by Barclays from $345.00 to $350.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on LGND. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $402.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $358.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Leerink Partners started coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.38.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LGND opened at $316.83 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 141.44, a PEG ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50-day moving average of $300.74 and a 200-day moving average of $256.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.19. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a fifty-two week low of $175.89 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $2.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.34. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 20.27%. The business had revenue of $78.75 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $77.00 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.09 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was down 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,645. The trade was a 23.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.22, for a total transaction of $1,566,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,977,309.88. This trade represents a 13.57% 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 18,593 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,297 over the last ninety days. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth approximately $10,584,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 103,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $31,277,000 after purchasing an additional 34,866 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $438,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $609,000. Finally, Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,954,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on selling drugs directly, Ligand licenses technologies and drug-development assets and may receive royalties and other payments from partner programs. Its technologies include Captisol, a formulation platform designed to improve the solubility and delivery of certain medicines. Ligand also holds economic interests in a portfolio of partnered products and drug candidates across multiple therapeutic areas.