Insider Selling: Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Insider Sells $1,520,350.00 in Stock

Posted by Brenda Bartman on Oct 6th, 2026

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Free Report) insider Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $304.07, for a total transaction of $1,520,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 31,854 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,685,845.78. This trade represents a 13.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Andrew Reardon also recently made the following trade(s):

On Thursday, September 3rd, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $286.09, for a total transaction of $1,430,450.00.
On Monday, August 3rd, Andrew Reardon sold 5,000 shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.99, for a total transaction of $1,444,950.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Shares of LGND stock traded down $9.83 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $296.94. The stock had a trading volume of 162,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 270,576. The firm has a market cap of $5.92 billion, a PE ratio of 31.76, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.14. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $291.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $262.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 31.18 and a quick ratio of 30.96. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a fifty-two week low of $175.89 and a fifty-two week high of $326.63.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $2.37 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.97 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $63.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $61.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 67.88% and a return on equity of 20.06%. The business’s revenue was up 33.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.60 earnings per share. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has set its FY 2026 guidance at 9.000-9.500 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Cim Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Cim Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,606 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $508,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $328,000. MCF Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 118.9% in the second quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 243 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 132 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 256.6% during the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,800 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,207,000 after purchasing an additional 16,406 shares during the last quarter. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, August 14th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $330.00 target price on the stock. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Friday, September 25th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $345.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $255.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $358.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $337.89.

View Our Latest Report on LGND

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.