Moody Aldrich Partners LLC Has $3.70 Million Stock Holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Key Points

• Moody Aldrich Partners cut its stake in Ligand by 24.4% to 19,581 shares worth about $3.70M, while overall institutional ownership remains high at 91.28% and several large funds (State Street, MFS, Acuitas, Invesco, Tudor) have recently increased or initiated positions.
• Analyst sentiment is largely positive—seven Buys and one Hold—with multiple firms raising price targets and an average target of about $249.71, suggesting upside from current levels.
• Financials and insider activity: Ligand beat Q results (EPS $2.02 vs $1.46 expected; revenue $59.7M vs $55.6M) and set FY2026 guidance of 8.00–9.00 EPS, while insiders sold roughly 30,915 shares (~$6.4M) in the last quarter.

Moody Aldrich Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) by 24.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,581 shares of the biotechnology company's stock after selling 6,303 shares during the period. Moody Aldrich Partners LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $3,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the third quarter worth $2,789,955,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.1% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 749,754 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $85,232,000 after buying an additional 22,629 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 59.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 541,845 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $95,982,000 after buying an additional 202,103 shares during the period. Acuitas Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,922.9% during the 3rd quarter. Acuitas Investments LLC now owns 402,494 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $71,298,000 after buying an additional 382,597 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 64.6% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 378,295 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $67,011,000 after acquiring an additional 148,437 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LGND has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $275.00 to $277.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $235.00 to $252.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $276.00 to $282.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $239.00 to $243.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $249.71.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND stock opened at $232.32 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 21.98 and a current ratio of 22.23. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52 week low of $98.89 and a 52 week high of $247.38. The company's 50 day moving average price is $208.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $198.99. The company has a market capitalization of $4.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.14.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The biotechnology company reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.56. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 46.42% and a return on equity of 13.86%. The company had revenue of $59.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $55.59 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.27 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 8.000-9.000 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.47 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other news, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 13,423 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $205.83, for a total value of $2,762,856.09. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 21,662 shares in the company, valued at $4,458,689.46. The trade was a 38.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $206.35, for a total value of $1,031,750.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 36,869 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,607,918.15. This represents a 11.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 30,915 shares of company stock valued at $6,385,917 in the last quarter. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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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