Future Fund LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Future Fund LLC raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 49.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,840 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,560 shares during the period. Future Fund LLC’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $2,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LGND. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 25.8% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,120 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth about $344,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,660 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,121,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 9.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 55,327 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $5,817,000 after buying an additional 4,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 176.2% during the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,922 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,882,000 after buying an additional 23,553 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LGND has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. HC Wainwright increased their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $262.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $304.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.3%

Shares of LGND opened at $303.39 on Friday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $129.55 and a twelve month high of $326.63. The company has a market cap of $6.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 21.28, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $263.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $224.59.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen L. Sabba sold 2,145 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.00, for a total transaction of $544,830.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,629 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,541,766. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. Insiders have sold 35,698 shares of company stock valued at $9,019,252 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 7.00% 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.