Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND Stock Acquired by Moody National Bank Trust Division

Moody National Bank Trust Division grew its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,862 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,715 shares during the quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division owned 0.07% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $4,330,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter valued at about $27,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter worth about $75,000. MCF Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 118.9% in the 2nd quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 14,166.7% during the 2nd quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 428 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 425 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $181,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total value of $342,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,897 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,645. The trade was a 23.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 31,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.06, for a total transaction of $9,241,070.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,088,893.76. This trade represents a 53.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 54,979 shares of company stock worth $16,068,898. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 25th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $345.00 target price for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, September 21st. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $358.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $397.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $337.89.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 3.2%

LGND traded down $9.83 on Tuesday, hitting $296.94. 163,740 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 270,581. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a current ratio of 31.18. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $291.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.14. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12 month low of $175.89 and a 12 month high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced 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. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 67.88%.The firm had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.30 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 33.8% on a year-over-year basis. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and licenses technologies and drug assets to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners. Rather than operating primarily as a traditional commercial drug manufacturer, Ligand focuses on building a portfolio of royalty agreements, licensing arrangements and other partnerships that can generate payments when partnered products are developed, approved and sold.

The company’s best-known technology is Captisol, a chemically modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds.