Royal Bank Of Canada Boosts Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Price Target to $185.00

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada has raised the price target for Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) from $155.00 to $185.00, indicating a potential upside of 22.48% from its previous close.
• In addition to RBC, Oppenheimer also upgraded its price target for Ligand from $145.00 to $162.00, while a sell rating was assigned by Wall Street Zen.
• Ligand Pharmaceuticals reported earnings of $1.33 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations, with a revenue of $45.33 million for the quarter.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Royal Bank Of Canada from $155.00 to $185.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the biotechnology company's stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on LGND. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $145.00 to $162.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Stifel Nicolaus assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $143.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $157.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 0.5%

LGND stock traded up $0.70 on Friday, hitting $153.39. 27,603 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 144,830. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 1-year low of $93.58 and a 1-year high of $156.53. The stock has a market cap of $2.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -38.35 and a beta of 0.85. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $124.13 and a 200-day moving average of $114.26.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The biotechnology company reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.06. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a negative net margin of 40.44% and a negative return on equity of 9.21%. The business had revenue of $47.63 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $43.87 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.40 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director John W. Kozarich sold 467 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.88, for a total value of $61,587.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 45,989 shares in the company, valued at $6,065,029.32. This represents a 1.01% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $114.08, for a total transaction of $57,040.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 31,903 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,639,494.24. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 3,401 shares of company stock valued at $396,648. Insiders own 7.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LGND. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 1st quarter worth $16,526,000. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 70.0% in the 4th quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 162,771 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $17,441,000 after buying an additional 67,033 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 17,612.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 62,348 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $6,555,000 after buying an additional 61,996 shares during the last quarter. CenterBook Partners LP grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 190.2% in the first quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 68,299 shares of the biotechnology company's stock valued at $7,181,000 after purchasing an additional 44,760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the first quarter valued at about $4,657,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.28% of the company's stock.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

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.