Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and licenses technologies and drug assets to pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners. Rather than operating primarily as a traditional commercial drug manufacturer, Ligand focuses on building a portfolio of royalty agreements, licensing arrangements and other partnerships that can generate payments when partnered products are developed, approved and sold.

The company’s best-known technology is Captisol, a chemically modified cyclodextrin designed to improve the solubility, stability and delivery of certain drug compounds. Captisol has been incorporated into multiple approved medicines, including Kyprolis (carfilzomib), Evomela (melphalan) and Veklury (remdesivir). Ligand also has rights to royalties and other economic interests associated with a range of partnered pharmaceutical products and drug-development programs.

Founded in 1987 and headquartered in San Diego, California, Ligand serves the global biopharmaceutical industry through collaborations with companies operating in the United States and international markets. Its partners are generally responsible for clinical development, regulatory submissions, manufacturing and commercialization, while Ligand participates through licensing fees, milestone payments and royalties tied to the success of partnered products.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $292.28 to $307.11
• 50-Day Range: $275.20 to $314.10
• 52-Week Range: $175.89 to $326.63
• Volume: 245,284 shs
• Average Volume: 269,578 shs
• Market Capitalization: $5.88 billion
• P/E Ratio: 31.55
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $337.89
• Consensus Rating: Buy

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Ligand Pharmaceuticals scored higher than 78% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 196th out of 873 stocks in the healthcare sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.4 / 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 no strong buy ratings, 10 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a consensus price target of $337.89, representing about 11.6% upside from its current price of $302.70.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 59.05%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Ligand Pharmaceuticals are expected to grow by 59.05% in the coming year, from $5.25 to $8.35 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is 32.38, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 38.75.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Ligand Pharmaceuticals is 32.38, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Healthcare sector average P/E ratio of about 275.40.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a PEG Ratio of 2.51. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a P/B Ratio of 5.86. P/B Ratios above 3 indicate that a company could be overvalued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

14.23% 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 8.73.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Ligand Pharmaceuticals has recently increased by 1.73%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing.

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.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.7 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.84

News Sentiment

Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a news sentiment score of 0.84. 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 0.71 average news sentiment score of Healthcare companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 3 news articles for Ligand Pharmaceuticals this week, compared to 5 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

6 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

3 people have added Ligand Pharmaceuticals to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 200% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 1.6 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Ligand Pharmaceuticals insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $16,068,898.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

5.60% 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.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 8/06/2026
• Today: 10/14/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 11/05/2026
• Investor Day 2026: 12/08/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Healthcare
• Industry: Biotechnology
• Sub-Industry: Biotechnology
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:LGND
• CIK: 886163
• Web: www.ligand.com
• Phone: (858) 550-7500
• Fax: 858-550-1826
• Employees: 47
• Year Founded: 1987

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Ligand Pharmaceuticals: $337.89
• High Price Target: $397.00
• Low Price Target: $220.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +14.5%
• Consensus Rating: Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 3.00
• Research Coverage: 10 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $9.35
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 31.55
• Forward P/E Ratio: 56.19
• P/E Growth: 2.51
• Net Income: $124.45 million
• Net Margins: 67.88%
• Pretax Margin: 81.90%
• Return on Equity: 20.06%
• Return on Assets: 11.68%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.16
• Current Ratio: 31.18
• Quick Ratio: 30.96

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $268.09 million
• Price / Sales: 21.94
• Cash Flow: $7.45 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 39.62
• Book Value: $51.68 per share
• Price / Book: 5.71

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 19,940,000
• Free Float: 18,820,000
• Market Cap: $5.88 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.14