Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) CFO Octavio Espinoza Sells 3,057 Shares

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 3,057 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $225.00, for a total value of $687,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 21,010 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,727,250. The trade was a 12.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Octavio Espinoza also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Octavio Espinoza sold 13,423 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.83, for a total value of $2,762,856.09.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 4.1%

LGND traded down $8.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $202.91. 273,426 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 196,228. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 21.98 and a current ratio of 22.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $196.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.04. The firm has a market cap of $4.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.17. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $93.58 and a 1 year high of $227.92.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 26.3% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,561 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $673,000 after buying an additional 741 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter worth approximately $284,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 36.5% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 516,464 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $97,648,000 after acquiring an additional 138,169 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments raised its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 67.6% during the 4th quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,417 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $457,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,459,000. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on LGND shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $234.00 to $235.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 10th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $244.00 price objective on the stock. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $231.00 to $239.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $245.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company 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.