Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

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. The company also offers TZIELD, a CD3-directed antibody indicated to delay the onset of Stage 3 type 1 diabetes (T1D) in adults and children aged 8 years and older with Stage 2 T1D; Nexterone, a captisol-enabled formulation of amiodarone; Zulresso, a captisol-enabled formulation of brexanolone for the treatment of postpartum depression; and Veklury, an antiviral treatment for moderate or severe COVID-19. In addition, it provides Noxafil-IV, a captisol-enabled formulation of posaconazole for IV use; Duavee for the treatment of post-menopausal symptoms in women; Exemptia for autoimmune diseases; Vivitra for breast cancer; and Bryxta and Zybev for various indications. The company has alliances, licenses, and other business relationships with Amgen, Merck, Pfizer, Jazz, Takeda, Gilead Sciences, and Baxter International. Further, it sells Captisol materials. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Jupiter, Florida.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $98.89 to $104.01
• 50-Day Range: $96.67 to $111.38
• 52-Week Range: $77.43 to $129.90
• Volume: 164,245 shs
• Average Volume: 116,559 shs
• Market Capitalization: $1.99 billion
• P/E Ratio: 41.10
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $146.14
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ligand Pharmaceuticals scored higher than 96% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 53rd out of 934 stocks in the medical sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Buy

Consensus Rating

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 7 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has only been the subject of 2 research reports in the past 90 days.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 1.9 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 114.45%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ligand Pharmaceuticals are expected to grow by 114.45% in the coming year, from $1.73 to $3.71 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is 41.10, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 24.20.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is 41.10, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the Medical sector average P/E ratio of about 26.85.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a P/B Ratio of 2.55. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Healthy

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.13% of the float of Ligand Pharmaceuticals has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.9.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ligand Pharmaceuticals has recently decreased by 10.66%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: N/A

Dividend Yield

Ligand Pharmaceuticals does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Ligand Pharmaceuticals does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• Environmental Score: -1.57

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.13% of the float of Ligand Pharmaceuticals has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 8.9.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ligand Pharmaceuticals has recently decreased by 10.66%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 1.62

News Sentiment

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a news sentiment score of 1.62. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.87 average news sentiment score of Medical companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Ligand Pharmaceuticals this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

2 people have searched for LGND on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

2 people have added Ligand Pharmaceuticals to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 3.3 / 5
• Insider Trading: Acquiring Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Ligand Pharmaceuticals insiders have bought 101.09% more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $1,156,542.00 in company stock and sold $575,150.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 5.90% of the stock of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

91.28% of the stock of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

LGND Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have LGND shares performed this year?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals' stock was trading at $107.15 on January 1st, 2025. Since then, LGND shares have decreased by 3.7% and is now trading at $103.17.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here.

How were Ligand Pharmaceuticals' earnings last quarter?

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) announced its earnings results on Thursday, May, 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.10. The biotechnology company had revenue of $45.33 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.84 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 29.68% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 4.95%.
Read the conference call transcript.

Who are Ligand Pharmaceuticals' major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Ligand Pharmaceuticals include Vanguard Group Inc. (10.66%), Congress Asset Management Co. (3.34%), Stephens Investment Management Group LLC (3.15%) and Chicago Capital LLC (2.88%). Insiders that own company stock include John L Higgins, Todd C Davis, Matthew E Korenberg, John W Kozarich, John L Lamattina, Stephen L Sabba, Octavio Espinoza, Andrew Reardon and Nancy Ryan Gray.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals?

Shares of LGND stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

What other stocks do shareholders of Ligand Pharmaceuticals own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Ligand Pharmaceuticals investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Invesco QQQ (QQQ), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Netflix (NFLX) and Palo Alto Networks (PANW).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 5/08/2025
• Today: 5/31/2025
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 8/05/2025
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Medical
• Industry: Pharmaceutical preparations
• Sub-Industry: Biotechnology
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LGND
• CIK: 886163
• Web: www.ligand.com
• Phone: (858) 550-7500
• Fax: 858-550-1826
• Employees: 80
• Year Founded: N/A

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $146.14
• High Stock Price Target: $160.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $135.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +41.7%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 7 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): ($7.12)
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 41.10
• Forward P/E Ratio: 59.64
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $52.15 million
• Net Margins: 29.68%
• Pretax Margin: 38.59%
• Return on Equity: 4.95%
• Return on Assets: 4.39%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: N/A
• Current Ratio: 12.49
• Quick Ratio: 11.81

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $181.49 million
• Price / Sales: 10.97
• Cash Flow: $4.23 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 24.39
• Book Value: $40.39 per share
• Price / Book: 2.55

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 19,294,000
• Free Float: 17,780,000
• Market Cap: $1.99 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.87