Barclays Begins Coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND)

Key Points

• Barclays initiated coverage of Ligand Pharmaceuticals with an “overweight” rating and a $345 price target, implying approximately 15.4% upside from the reported share price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: all 10 analysts rate the stock a Buy, with a consensus price target of $337.89. Recent quarterly results also exceeded expectations, with EPS of $2.37 versus the $1.97 estimate and revenue up 33.8% year over year.
• Company insiders sold 54,979 shares worth approximately $16.1 million over the past three months, while institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of Ligand’s outstanding stock.

Research analysts at Barclays began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an "overweight" rating and a $345.00 price target on the biotechnology company's stock. Barclays's price objective suggests a potential upside of 15.37% from the company's current price.

LGND has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $326.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $358.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Leerink Partners assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Friday, August 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $390.00 to $397.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $337.89.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.2%

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $299.04 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $5.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.11. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $163.45 and a 1 year high of $326.63. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $290.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $258.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a current ratio of 31.18.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $63.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 20.06% and a net margin of 67.88%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.60 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 31,641 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.06, for a total transaction of $9,241,070.46. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 27,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,088,893.76. The trade was a 53.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total transaction of $1,430,450.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,514 shares in the company, valued at $10,446,290.26. The trade was a 12.04% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 54,979 shares of company stock valued at $16,114,948. 5.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LGND. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.7% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 681 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $215,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,484 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% during the 2nd quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $355,000 after buying an additional 74 shares during the last quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.4% in the first quarter. 1492 Capital Management LLC now owns 1,958 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $391,000 after acquiring an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth $27,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops, acquires and licenses technologies designed to help pharmaceutical companies discover, develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on building a large portfolio of internally marketed drugs, Ligand operates an asset-light business model centered on partnerships, licensing agreements, royalties and other economic interests in partnered products.

The company's principal technology is Captisol, a proprietary modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds.

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