Tweedy Browne Co LLC Takes Position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated $LGND

Key Points

• Tweedy Browne Co LLC has acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND), purchasing 3,140 shares valued at approximately $357,000 in the 2nd quarter.
• Top analysts have a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" for LGND with a price target of $176.50, although Weiss Ratings has maintained a "sell" rating.
• Ligand Pharmaceuticals reported a quarterly earnings per share of $1.60, beating estimates and demonstrating a 14.7% year-over-year revenue growth, while maintaining a negative net margin of 40.44%.

Tweedy Browne Co LLC acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,140 shares of the biotechnology company's stock, valued at approximately $357,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LGND. Maseco LLP bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 68.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 593 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 745 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $85,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1,289.2% in the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,153 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,070 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $257,000. 91.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $167.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Wall Street Zen raised Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Benchmark raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $160.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 2nd. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $157.00 to $206.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 28th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $176.50.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ LGND opened at $180.77 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $167.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $131.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a PE ratio of -45.19 and a beta of 0.95. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $93.58 and a twelve month high of $186.48.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $47.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.87 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 9.21% and a negative net margin of 40.44%.Ligand Pharmaceuticals's revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.40 EPS. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.700-7.000 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director John W. Kozarich sold 467 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $179.44, for a total transaction of $83,798.48. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 45,055 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,084,669.20. The trade was a 1.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jason Aryeh sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.81, for a total value of $1,708,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 69,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $11,835,254.09. The trade was a 12.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,401 shares of company stock valued at $1,929,262. 7.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development and licensing of biopharmaceutical assets worldwide. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Rylaze, a recombinant erwinia asparaginase for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphoblastic lymphoma in adult and pediatric patients; Filspari, a dual endothelin and angiotensin II receptor antagonist in development for rare kidney diseases and non-immunosuppressive treatment indicated for immunoglobulin A nephropathy; Teriparatide injection product for osteoporosis; Vaxneuvance for the prevention of invasive disease caused by streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes; and Pneumosil, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia among children.

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