Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.25 by $0.42, Bloomberg Earnings reports. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 7.39% and a return on equity of 5.05%. The firm had revenue of $28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $24.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 43.6% on a year-over-year basis.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) traded down 0.28% on Friday, reaching $126.26. 172,896 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $122.18 and its 200 day moving average is $112.68. The company has a market cap of $2.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 307.95 and a beta of 0.96. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52 week low of $87.50 and a 52 week high of $129.94.
LGND has been the subject of several recent research reports. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 1st. Roth Capital set a $120.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 22nd. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 22nd. BidaskClub upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG restated a “hold” rating and issued a $103.00 price objective (up previously from $100.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, July 17th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $133.71.
In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, CEO John L. Higgins sold 4,666 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $559,920.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 143,837 shares in the company, valued at $17,260,440. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Matthew W. Foehr sold 6,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.51, for a total value of $777,811.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 101,020 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,881,060.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 46,874 shares of company stock worth $5,766,176 over the last 90 days. 14.70% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LGND. Independent Portfolio Consultants Inc. boosted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.0% in the first quarter. Independent Portfolio Consultants Inc. now owns 1,555 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $165,000 after buying an additional 15 shares in the last quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.6% in the second quarter. First Mercantile Trust Co. now owns 1,310 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.3% in the second quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 2,508 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.9% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 2,100 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. Finally, Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.9% in the first quarter. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan now owns 4,350 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $460,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Ligand) is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing and acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop medicines. The Company is involved in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets. The Company employs research technologies, such as nuclear receptor assays, high throughput computer screening, formulation science, liver targeted pro-drug technologies and antibody discovery technologies to assist companies in their work toward obtaining prescription drug approvals.
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