Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND) Short Interest Update

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Rating) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in December. As of December 30th, there was short interest totalling 792,800 shares, a decline of 8.4% from the December 15th total of 865,800 shares. Approximately 5.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 194,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director John L. Higgins sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.87, for a total value of $618,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 422,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,170,020.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, Director John L. Higgins sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.87, for a total transaction of $618,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 422,984 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,170,020.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 1,696 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.64, for a total value of $128,285.44. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 8,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $669,943.48. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 21,696 shares of company stock valued at $1,530,185 over the last quarter. 10.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ligand Pharmaceuticals

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LGND. abrdn plc raised its position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 27.9% during the second quarter. abrdn plc now owns 428,585 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $38,239,000 after purchasing an additional 93,582 shares during the period. Impax Asset Management Group plc raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 27.1% in the 3rd quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 234,320 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $20,177,000 after buying an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Monarch Partners Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,155,000. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Stephens Investment Management Group LLC now owns 453,574 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $40,468,000 after buying an additional 35,904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 783,924 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $69,941,000 after buying an additional 25,183 shares during the last quarter. 87.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LGND has been the topic of several analyst reports. Benchmark reduced their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals to $95.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 15th. Roth Capital upped their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 23rd. Barclays reduced their target price on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $150.00 to $120.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, November 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $119.00.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Stock Performance

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $70.42 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -56.79, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 1.10. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 52-week low of $57.77 and a 52-week high of $128.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $69.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.50.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 7th. The biotechnology company reported ($0.20) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.09 by ($0.29). Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a positive return on equity of 2.57% and a negative net margin of 8.62%. The firm had revenue of $66.09 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.47 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Ligand Pharmaceuticals will post 2.35 EPS for the current year.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing or acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies to discover and develop medicines worldwide. Its commercial programs include Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Veklury for the treatment of moderate or severe COVID-19; Teriparatide injection product for osteoporosis; Vaxneuvance for the prevention of invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae; and Pneumosil, a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine to help fight against pneumococcal pneumonia among children.