Castleark Management LLC Buys 2,060 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Castleark Management LLC grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 66,736 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,060 shares during the quarter. Castleark Management LLC owned about 0.34% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $12,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter valued at about $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $85,232,000 after buying an additional 22,629 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 115.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 496,160 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,809,000 after buying an additional 266,304 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 493,589 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $93,336,000 after buying an additional 19,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.6% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 429,004 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $81,112,000 after buying an additional 61,209 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LGND has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $257.71.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

LGND stock opened at $255.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 21.28 and a quick ratio of 20.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $225.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $206.74. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $110.00 and a fifty-two week high of $259.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a PE ratio of 34.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 1.17.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.84 by ($0.21). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 16.19% and a net margin of 55.95%.The company had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.33 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director John L. Lamattina sold 4,591 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.88, for a total value of $1,151,790.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 26,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,765,982.72. The trade was a 14.55% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $227.06, for a total value of $1,135,300.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 41,382 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,396,196.92. This represents a 10.78% 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 sold a total of 28,559 shares of company stock worth $6,565,231 over the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that acquires, develops and out-licenses proprietary technologies designed to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies discover and develop novel medicines. Operating primarily through its research services and royalty-generating businesses, Ligand focuses on building a diversified portfolio of technology platforms and partnering with industry leaders to advance therapeutic candidates across multiple disease areas.

The company’s product offerings center around several core platforms.