HC Wainwright Reiterates Buy Rating for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at HC Wainwright in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $144.00 target price on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 57.02% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, June 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.25.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LGND opened at $91.71 on Monday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $49.24 and a 1 year high of $94.57. The company has a market capitalization of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.74 and a beta of 1.01. The business’s 50-day moving average is $82.43 and its 200-day moving average is $76.94.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $3.01. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 8.52% and a net margin of 79.30%. The company had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.92 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,873 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.01, for a total value of $505,136.73. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,090.82. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,873 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.01, for a total transaction of $505,136.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 23,882 shares in the company, valued at $2,054,090.82. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 10,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider now directly owns 22,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,843,903.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,882 over the last ninety days. 5.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LGND. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,876,514 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $134,021,000 after acquiring an additional 24,653 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.1% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 325,727 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $23,263,000 after purchasing an additional 121,049 shares during the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 11.3% during the fourth quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 205,208 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,656,000 after acquiring an additional 20,888 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 98.8% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 37,173 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $2,655,000 after buying an additional 18,472 shares during the period. Finally, China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 356.2% during the fourth quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,012 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $144,000 after buying an additional 1,571 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.28% 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.