TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Makes New Investment in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 19,625 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,122,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legato Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 26,241 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $4,961,000 after acquiring an additional 9,944 shares in the last quarter. UBS Group AG boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 27.8% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 143,067 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $27,050,000 after acquiring an additional 31,081 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after acquiring an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 265.4% in the fourth quarter. GW&K Investment Management LLC now owns 117,432 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $22,204,000 after purchasing an additional 85,297 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 20.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 130,858 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $24,741,000 after purchasing an additional 21,932 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 31,641 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $292.06, for a total value 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 represents a 53.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,125,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 102,580 shares in the company, valued at $25,645,000. This trade represents a 4.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 66,976 shares of company stock worth $18,940,421 over the last 90 days. 5.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

NASDAQ:LGND opened at $285.60 on Monday. 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 market cap of $5.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.11. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $161.82 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $297.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $248.92.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.40. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The firm had revenue of $63.69 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.30 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm 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. Analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LGND. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $326.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $340.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $335.75.

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.