Matthew E. Korenberg Sells 6,275 Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Stock

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 6,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.10, for a total value of $653,227.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,285,885.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

LGND opened at $98.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.11 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $102.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.05. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a one year low of $49.24 and a one year high of $112.13.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The biotechnology company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.34. The firm had revenue of $41.50 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $33.04 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 7.91% and a net margin of 29.69%. The company’s revenue was up 57.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in LGND. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 161,480 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $11,533,000 after acquiring an additional 4,293 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 661,298 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $47,230,000 after purchasing an additional 46,906 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the fourth quarter worth $554,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the fourth quarter valued at $7,655,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 14,066 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $1,005,000 after buying an additional 438 shares during the period. 91.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the subject of several research reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and set a $144.00 price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Benchmark lifted their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Craig Hallum upped their price target on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $135.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $131.00.

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.