Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Given Buy Rating at HC Wainwright

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by HC Wainwright in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $157.00 target price on the biotechnology company's stock. HC Wainwright's price target points to a potential upside of 29.48% from the stock's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $135.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Benchmark upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $143.17.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 6.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LGND traded down $8.65 on Friday, reaching $121.25. The company had a trading volume of 260,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 136,475. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $51.21 and a 52-week high of $129.90. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $105.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.22 billion, a PE ratio of 47.88 and a beta of 0.99.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.34. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 7.91% and a net margin of 29.69%. The business had revenue of $41.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.04 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The business's revenue was up 57.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 11,389 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.61, for a total value of $1,202,792.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 49,510 shares in the company, valued at $5,228,751.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 11,389 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.61, for a total value of $1,202,792.29. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 49,510 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,228,751.10. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.60, for a total value of $199,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 22,534 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,244,386.40. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 33,368 shares of company stock worth $3,458,560. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,884,112 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $137,729,000 after purchasing an additional 7,598 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 6.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 708,624 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $59,707,000 after purchasing an additional 44,543 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.0% during the third quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 604,038 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $60,458,000 after purchasing an additional 17,414 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 6.0% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 545,821 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $54,631,000 after purchasing an additional 30,875 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rice Hall James & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.0% during the third quarter. Rice Hall James & Associates LLC now owns 312,879 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $31,316,000 after purchasing an additional 20,404 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.