Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND Shares Bought by Squarepoint Ops LLC

Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) by 256.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,800 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after purchasing an additional 16,406 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.11% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $7,207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 25.8% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,120 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $644,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter valued at about $344,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,660 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $1,121,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 9.8% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 55,327 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $5,817,000 after buying an additional 4,926 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 176.2% in the first quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 36,922 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $3,882,000 after acquiring an additional 23,553 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LGND has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated an "outperform" rating and set a $326.00 price target (up from $285.00) on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 8th. HC Wainwright lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $289.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $266.00 to $388.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Finally, 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $335.75.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 0.4%

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $289.25 on Friday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $295.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $251.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 30.96 and a current ratio of 31.18. The company has a market cap of $5.77 billion, a PE ratio of 30.94, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 1.11. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $161.82 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, Director Jason Haas sold 7,138 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $292.81, for a total value of $2,090,077.78. Following the sale, the director owned 3,981 shares in the company, valued at $1,165,676.61. This represents a 64.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 31,641 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 12th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 53.32% decrease in their position. 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 55,924 shares of company stock valued at $16,317,778. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals 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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