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

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at HC Wainwright in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $144.00 price objective on the biotechnology company’s stock. HC Wainwright’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 70.90% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $95.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, April 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of LGND opened at $84.26 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.30 and a beta of 1.01. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $80.29 and a 200 day moving average of $76.00. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a twelve month low of $49.24 and a twelve month high of $94.57.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $3.01. The company had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27.92 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 79.30% and a return on equity of 8.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 29.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.96 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Nancy Ryan Gray sold 934 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.20, for a total transaction of $77,708.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,633 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $468,665.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Nancy Ryan Gray sold 934 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.20, for a total transaction of $77,708.80. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,633 shares in the company, valued at approximately $468,665.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 5,156 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.66, for a total transaction of $446,818.96. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 23,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,026,024.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 25,403 shares of company stock valued at $2,150,882 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 121,049 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 11.3% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 205,208 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $14,656,000 after purchasing an additional 20,888 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 98.8% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 37,173 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,655,000 after purchasing an additional 18,472 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 356.2% in the 4th quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 2,012 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $144,000 after purchasing an additional 1,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG lifted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 136,229 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $8,163,000 after purchasing an additional 40,958 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.28% of the company’s stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.