California State Teachers Retirement System Buys 6,946,949 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Key Points

• California State Teachers Retirement System increased its Ligand Pharmaceuticals stake by nearly 29,209%, buying 6.95 million shares and bringing its ownership to approximately 34.96%, valued at $2.20 billion.
• Ligand reported quarterly earnings of $2.37 per share, surpassing estimates of $1.97, while revenue rose 33.8% year over year to $63.69 million. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company, though insiders sold $16.3 million of shares over the past three months.
• Analysts remain bullish, with nine Buy ratings and a consensus price target of $335.75, compared with the stock’s reported opening price of $284.47.

California State Teachers Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) by 29,208.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,970,733 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 6,946,949 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 34.96% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $2,203,379,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. bought a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter worth about $6,122,000. Nykredit A S purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $273,000. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.1% in the 2nd quarter. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC now owns 1,123 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $81,424,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,429,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director Stephen Sabba sold 2,145 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $254.00, for a total value of $544,830.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 33,629 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,541,766. This represents a 6.00% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total value of $1,430,450.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 36,514 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,446,290.26. This trade represents a 12.04% 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 55,924 shares of company stock valued at $16,317,778. 5.60% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of LGND stock opened at $284.47 on Friday. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 12-month low of $161.82 and a 12-month high of $326.63. The company has a current ratio of 31.18, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $294.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $252.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 1.11.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on LGND shares. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "hold (c)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. Leerink Partners initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $330.00 price target for the company. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. They set a "buy" rating and a $387.00 target price for the company. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $335.75.

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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