Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) is expected to announce its earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, February 27th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.37 per share and revenue of $39.03 million for the quarter. Investors that wish to listen to the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of LGND stock opened at $118.70 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $113.99 and a 200-day moving average of $110.95. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a one year low of $67.72 and a one year high of $129.90. The company has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 47.29 and a beta of 1.04.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 16th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, December 23rd. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $141.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $135.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $147.00.

Insider Transactions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 2,104 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $116.37, for a total value of $244,842.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 20,647 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,402,691.39. This trade represents a 9.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 5.90% 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.