Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Insider Sells $57,040.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) insider Andrew Reardon sold 500 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.08, for a total value of $57,040.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 31,903 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,639,494.24. This represents a 1.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Andrew Reardon also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, June 10th, Andrew Reardon sold 500 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.54, for a total value of $57,270.00.
• On Thursday, May 15th, Andrew Reardon sold 1,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.00, for a total value of $104,000.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND opened at $118.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.09 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $110.23. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 52-week low of $77.53 and a 52-week high of $129.90. The company has a market cap of $2.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.60 and a beta of 0.83.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.10. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a negative return on equity of 7.83% and a negative net margin of 73.07%. The firm had revenue of $45.33 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.84 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.84 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on LGND. Wall Street Zen downgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Stifel Nicolaus began coverage on Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "buy" rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $146.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter worth $29,652,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the first quarter worth $16,526,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,085,627 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $223,475,000 after acquiring an additional 115,005 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 95.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 185,402 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $19,866,000 after acquiring an additional 90,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 162,771 shares of the biotechnology company's stock worth $17,441,000 after acquiring an additional 67,033 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% of the company's stock.

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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