Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Releases Earnings Results

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The biotechnology company reported $3.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $3.01, RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $30.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $27.92 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 11.98% and a net margin of 37.80%. The company's revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.96 EPS.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock traded up $0.39 on Tuesday, hitting $73.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 162,669 shares, compared to its average volume of 156,865. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1 year low of $49.24 and a 1 year high of $94.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.90. The company has a market capitalization of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.63 and a beta of 1.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Benchmark restated a "buy" rating and issued a $95.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, April 12th. HC Wainwright restated a "buy" rating and issued a $144.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $116.33.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director Stephen L. Sabba sold 1,893 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.30, for a total transaction of $140,649.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 28,926 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,149,201.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 10.40% of the stock is owned by company 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.