Stephen Sabba Sells 2,034 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Director Stephen Sabba sold 2,034 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $201.50, for a total transaction of $409,851.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,793 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,809,289.50. This trade represents a 5.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.1%

NASDAQ LGND opened at $201.90 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 21.98, a current ratio of 22.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $93.58 and a twelve month high of $212.49. The company has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.63 and a beta of 1.17. The business’s fifty day moving average is $194.23 and its 200 day moving average is $187.15.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.56. The business had revenue of $59.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $55.59 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 13.86% and a net margin of 46.42%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.27 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-9.000 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $85,232,000 after purchasing an additional 22,629 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% in the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 667,311 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $118,207,000 after purchasing an additional 19,370 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in 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 worth $95,982,000 after purchasing an additional 202,103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,648,000 after purchasing an additional 138,169 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on LGND. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $175.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $231.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.17.

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.