Portside Wealth Group LLC Buys 112 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND)

Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) by 3.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,575 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals were worth $376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LGND. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 119.5% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 406 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Redwood Park Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 825.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 546 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 758 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, CFO Octavio Espinoza acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $104.06 per share, for a total transaction of $156,090.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now owns 27,932 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,906,603.92. This represents a 5.67% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Todd C. Davis acquired 9,510 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $105.20 per share, with a total value of $1,000,452.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 161,234 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,961,816.80. This trade represents a 6.27% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 7.00% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Up 3.6%

Shares of LGND opened at $113.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $2.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 45.19 and a beta of 0.83. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a twelve month low of $77.51 and a twelve month high of $129.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $104.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $110.76.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on LGND shares. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $142.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $143.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $146.14.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals 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.