Ashford Capital Management Inc. Sells 30,652 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Key Points

• Ashford Capital Management cut its Ligand Pharmaceuticals stake by 12.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 30,652 shares. After the sale, it still held 213,778 shares worth about $40.4 million, making LGND its second-largest holding.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including Director John W. Kozarich and insider Andrew Reardon, with 35,020 shares sold over the last quarter in total. Company insiders currently own about 7% of the stock.
• Analysts remain mostly upbeat on Ligand Pharmaceuticals, with seven Buy ratings and one Hold rating and a moderate buy consensus price target of $257.71. The stock was trading near $255.25, close to its 12-month high of $259.03, even after the company recently missed quarterly EPS and revenue estimates.

Ashford Capital Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 213,778 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 30,652 shares during the period. Ligand Pharmaceuticals makes up approximately 4.5% of Ashford Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Ashford Capital Management Inc. owned 1.09% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $40,419,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,926 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $19,295,000 after purchasing an additional 2,860 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,915 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,653,000 after purchasing an additional 4,538 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 143,067 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $27,050,000 after purchasing an additional 31,081 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 61.0% in the 4th quarter. Legato Capital Management LLC now owns 26,241 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $4,961,000 after purchasing an additional 9,944 shares during the period. Finally, Clark Capital Management Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. now owns 82,991 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $14,701,000 after purchasing an additional 11,858 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John W. Kozarich sold 1,575 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $223.50, for a total transaction of $352,012.50. Following the sale, the director owned 41,786 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,339,171. This trade represents a 3.63% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed 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 company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $231.31, for a total value of $1,156,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,382 shares in the company, valued at $9,572,070.42. This trade represents a 10.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 35,020 shares of company stock worth $8,216,533. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on LGND. Wall Street Zen lowered Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, March 7th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $243.00 to $289.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $252.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $244.00 price objective for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $257.71.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of LGND stock opened at $255.25 on Wednesday. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $227.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $207.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 20.95 and a current ratio of 21.28. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $110.00 and a twelve month high of $259.03. The company has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.63, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.17.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.84 by ($0.21). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 55.95% and a return on equity of 16.19%. The company had revenue of $51.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.10 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 4.47 EPS for the current year.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that acquires, develops and out-licenses proprietary technologies designed to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies discover and develop novel medicines. Operating primarily through its research services and royalty-generating businesses, Ligand focuses on building a diversified portfolio of technology platforms and partnering with industry leaders to advance therapeutic candidates across multiple disease areas.

The company's product offerings center around several core platforms.

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