Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Updates FY24 Earnings Guidance

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of $5.50-5.70 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of $5.39. The company issued revenue guidance of $160-165 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $156.29 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals also updated its FY 2024 guidance to 5.500-5.700 EPS.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LGND opened at $116.90 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $104.78 and its 200-day moving average is $94.61. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $51.21 and a 52-week high of $116.95. The company has a market cap of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.12 and a beta of 0.99.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 29.69% and a return on equity of 7.91%. The company had revenue of $41.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.04 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 57.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 3.47 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $135.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $130.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. HC Wainwright reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $157.00 target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Benchmark lifted their target price on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $95.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $132.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 9,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.22, for a total value of $989,121.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,777 shares in the company, valued at $5,139,647.94. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 9,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.22, for a total value of $989,121.84. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 50,777 shares in the company, valued at $5,139,647.94. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew Reardon sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.39, for a total transaction of $159,585.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 22,534 shares in the company, valued at $2,397,392.26. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 51,613 shares of company stock worth $5,255,692 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

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.