Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by HC Wainwright

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $144.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price target points to a potential upside of 77.84% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of LGND stock traded up $3.15 on Thursday, reaching $80.97. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 36,760 shares, compared to its average volume of 149,312. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.80. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $49.24 and a 1 year high of $94.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.66 and a beta of 1.01.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $3.01. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 79.30% and a return on equity of 8.52%. The firm had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.92 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.96 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s revenue for the quarter was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.04, for a total transaction of $830,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,843,903.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total value of $446,818.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,026,024.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.04, for a total transaction of $830,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,843,903.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,882. 5.90% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Burney Co. lifted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 13.4% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Ashford Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $14,367,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 12,992 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 21,701 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 45,032 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $3,292,000 after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets worldwide. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Rylaze, a recombinant erwinia asparaginase for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients; Filspari, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist in development for rare kidney diseases and non-immunosuppressive treatment indicated for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Teriparatide injection product for osteoporosis; Vaxneuvance for the prevention of invasive disease caused by streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes; and Pneumosil, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia among children.