Benchmark Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)

Benchmark reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) in a research report released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 price target on the biotechnology company’s stock.

Separately, HC Wainwright reiterated a buy rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $116.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 2.3 %

NASDAQ LGND opened at $84.26 on Friday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $49.24 and a 1-year high of $94.57. The company has a 50 day moving average of $80.29 and a 200-day moving average of $76.00. The company has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.01.

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 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 company had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.92 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $446,818.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,379 shares in the company, valued at $2,026,024.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 22,205 shares in the company, valued at $1,843,903.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $446,818.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,026,024.14. 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 three months. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,884,112 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $137,729,000 after buying an additional 7,598 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 661,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,230,000 after buying an additional 46,906 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 41.0% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 659,434 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,097,000 after buying an additional 191,870 shares in the last quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 14.6% during the first quarter. Villere ST Denis J & Co. LLC now owns 490,752 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $35,874,000 after buying an additional 62,701 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.1% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 325,727 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $23,263,000 after buying an additional 121,049 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.