Shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:LGND) dropped 3.2% on Monday . The company traded as low as $68.44 and last traded at $70.52, approximately 20,677 shares traded hands during mid-day trading. A decline of 97% from the average daily volume of 813,293 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.87.
A number of analysts recently commented on LGND shares. BidaskClub cut shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. ValuEngine upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 1st. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim started coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Monday, March 9th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $237.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research report on Wednesday, February 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $153.17.
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 65.66 and a current ratio of 66.09. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $93.02 and its 200 day moving average is $100.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 2.40, a PEG ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 1.18.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The biotechnology company reported $0.71 EPS for the quarter, beating the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $27.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.30 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a net margin of 523.19% and a return on equity of 4.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 54.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.
In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, COO Matthew W. Foehr sold 7,225 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total transaction of $794,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 160,968 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,706,480. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 8.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 92,842 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $9,683,000 after purchasing an additional 12,568 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV acquired a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 4th quarter worth about $4,190,000. Woodstock Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Woodstock Corp now owns 71,489 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $7,456,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals during the 3rd quarter worth about $222,000. Finally, Granahan Investment Management Inc. MA boosted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 17.2% during the 3rd quarter. Granahan Investment Management Inc. MA now owns 20,556 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $2,046,000 after buying an additional 3,015 shares during the last quarter.
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Company Profile (NASDAQ:LGND)
Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing and acquiring technologies that help pharmaceutical companies to discover and develop medicines worldwide. Its commercial programs include Promacta, an oral medicine that increases the number of platelets in the blood; Kyprolis and Evomela, which are used to treat multiple myeloma; Baxdela, a captisol-enabled delafloxacin-IV for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections; Nexterone, a captisol-enabled formulation of amiodarone; Noxafil-IV, a captisol-enabled formulation of posaconazole for IV use; Carnexiv, which is indicated as replacement therapy for oral carbamazepine formulations; bazedoxifene for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis; Aziyo portfolio of commercial pericardial repair and CanGaroo envelope extracellular matrix products; Exemptia for autoimmune diseases; Vivitra for breast cancer; and Bryxta for non-small cell lung cancer.
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