Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) COO Sells 18,245 Shares of Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 18,245 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $98.50, for a total transaction of $1,797,132.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 68,368 shares in the company, valued at $6,734,248. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

LGND traded up $3.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $103.02. The stock had a trading volume of 203,847 shares, compared to its average volume of 149,136. The company has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.26 and a beta of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $91.20 and a 200 day moving average of $81.82. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $49.24 and a 1 year high of $112.13.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $41.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.04 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 79.30%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 57.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 124.3% in the second quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 514,946 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,389,000 after acquiring an additional 285,350 shares during the period. Ashford Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter worth $14,367,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 41.0% in the fourth quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 659,434 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $47,097,000 after acquiring an additional 191,870 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $11,350,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $7,655,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Craig Hallum upped their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Benchmark upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $130.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $144.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $131.00.

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.