Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Benchmark

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Benchmark in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $95.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock. Benchmark’s price objective indicates a potential upside of 14.73% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

LGND traded up $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $82.80. The stock had a trading volume of 5,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 148,791. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 1.01. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $49.24 and a 1-year high of $94.57.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $3.01. The company had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $27.92 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 79.30% and a return on equity of 8.52%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.96 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.04, for a total value of $830,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,205 shares in the company, valued at $1,843,903.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now owns 22,205 shares in the company, valued at $1,843,903.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew E. Korenberg sold 3,440 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.54, for a total value of $290,817.60. Following the sale, the insider now owns 100,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,489,591.34. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock worth $2,150,882 over the last quarter. Insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 14,344 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 185 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 32,700 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,390,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.5% during the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 4,627 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 363 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 13.4% during the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,524 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $258,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.