Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Given New $350.00 Price Target at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals to $350 from $345 and maintained an “overweight” rating, implying 10.38% upside from the price cited in the report.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: the consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average price target of $355.38; eight analysts rate the stock Buy and one Hold.
• Ligand beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates, reporting $2.67 per share and $78.75 million in revenue, though revenue fell 31.8% year over year.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) had its price objective boosted by investment analysts at Barclays from $345.00 to $350.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the biotechnology company's stock. Barclays's price objective suggests a potential upside of 10.38% from the stock's current price.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $326.00 target price (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $345.00 to $357.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $397.00 to $402.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "buy (b)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Finally, HC Wainwright reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $358.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $355.38.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ LGND traded up $2.92 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $317.08. The stock had a trading volume of 8,218 shares, compared to its average volume of 264,449. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $300.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $256.28. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $175.89 and a 1 year high of $326.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.22. The firm has a market cap of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 141.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 1.16.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The biotechnology company reported $2.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.34. The business had revenue of $78.75 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $77.00 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 20.27% and a return on equity of 5.22%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 31.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.09 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 2.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Martine Zimmermann sold 1,200 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $285.00, for a total transaction of $342,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,897 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,110,645. The trade was a 23.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.22, for a total transaction of $1,566,100.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 31,854 shares in the company, valued at $9,977,309.88. This represents a 13.57% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 18,593 shares of company stock valued at $5,625,297. Corporate insiders own 5.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 50.6% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 103,754 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $31,277,000 after purchasing an additional 34,866 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.5% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,403 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $438,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $609,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the third quarter worth $2,954,000. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. raised its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.2% in the third quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 144,545 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $45,151,000 after purchasing an additional 3,096 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

Ligand Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners to develop and commercialize medicines. Rather than focusing primarily on selling drugs directly, Ligand licenses technologies and drug-development assets and may receive royalties and other payments from partner programs. Its technologies include Captisol, a formulation platform designed to improve the solubility and delivery of certain medicines. Ligand also holds economic interests in a portfolio of partnered products and drug candidates across multiple therapeutic areas.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.