4,275 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND Acquired by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,275 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,335,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LGND. Ranger Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $81,424,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,429,000. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 358.8% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 107,859 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $21,535,000 after purchasing an additional 84,349 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 31.4% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 157,865 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $31,518,000 after buying an additional 37,696 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 62.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 75,188 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $15,012,000 after buying an additional 28,820 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 2.4%

LGND stock traded down $7.48 during trading on Friday, reaching $308.79. The company had a trading volume of 129,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 215,877. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $175.89 and a 52 week high of $326.63. The company has a market cap of $6.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 137.85, a PEG ratio of 5.52 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $301.71 and a 200 day moving average of $258.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.22 and a quick ratio of 1.19.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.34. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 5.22% and a net margin of 20.27%. The business had revenue of $78.75 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.09 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 31.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 2.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LGND shares. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $345.00 to $357.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $402.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, August 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $326.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $355.38.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director Jason Aryeh sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $320.05, for a total value of $960,150.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 105,476 shares in the company, valued at approximately $33,757,593.80. This represents a 2.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.22, for a total value of $1,566,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 31,854 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,977,309.88. This represents a 13.57% decrease in their position. 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. Insiders have sold 21,593 shares of company stock worth $6,585,447 over the last ninety days. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on selling drugs directly, Ligand licenses technologies and drug-development assets and may receive royalties and other payments from partner programs. Its technologies include Captisol, a formulation platform designed to improve the solubility and delivery of certain medicines. Ligand also holds economic interests in a portfolio of partnered products and drug candidates across multiple therapeutic areas.