Royal Bank Of Canada Boosts Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Price Target to $340.00

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its price target upped by analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $262.00 to $340.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the biotechnology company’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s target price indicates a potential upside of 13.31% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Citigroup boosted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. 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 research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $304.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 0.3%

LGND stock traded down $0.91 on Wednesday, hitting $300.06. 90,322 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 277,319. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 21.28 and a quick ratio of 20.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.10. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $123.66 and a twelve month high of $326.63. The business’s fifty day moving average is $259.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $222.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.10 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 55.95% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.33 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 4.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total transaction of $1,125,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 102,580 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,645,000. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jason Haas sold 6,461 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.58, for a total value of $1,651,302.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,981 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,273,043.98. This trade represents a 56.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 35,698 shares of company stock valued at $9,019,252. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 149 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. USA Financial Formulas bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth about $43,000. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the second quarter worth about $75,000. Finally, JPL Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.