Royal Bank Of Canada Issues Positive Forecast for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock Price

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its price objective boosted by Royal Bank Of Canada from $262.00 to $340.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $304.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.6%

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $296.26 on Wednesday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $123.66 and a 1-year high of $326.63. 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 stock has a market cap of $5.94 billion, a PE ratio of 40.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 1.10. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $260.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $51.72 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.33 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 4.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Jason Aryeh sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.00, for a total value of $1,125,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 102,580 shares in the company, valued at $25,645,000. The trade was a 4.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Jason Haas sold 6,461 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.58, for a total value of $1,651,302.38. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,981 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,273,043.98. This represents a 56.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 35,698 shares of company stock worth $9,019,252 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 7.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 22.5% during the second quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 10,358 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $3,274,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $75,000. Balefire LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $330,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 681 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Moody National Bank Trust Division purchased a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,840,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

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.