Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) CEO Buys $1,000,452.00 in Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) CEO Todd C. Davis purchased 9,510 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $105.20 per share, for a total transaction of $1,000,452.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,234 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,961,816.80. This represents a 6.27% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LGND opened at $105.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.87 and a beta of 0.87. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $77.43 and a fifty-two week high of $129.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.32.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The biotechnology company reported $1.33 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $45.33 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $37.84 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 4.95% and a net margin of 29.68%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 1.73 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 5.8% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,015,023 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $108,757,000 after purchasing an additional 5,929 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 723,019 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $77,470,000 after purchasing an additional 16,003 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. grew its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 642,712 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $67,575,000 after purchasing an additional 21,230 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC increased its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 554,517 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $58,302,000 after buying an additional 2,929 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LGND. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ligand Pharmaceuticals currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $146.14.

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.