Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) Price Target Raised to $143.00

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND) had its target price hoisted by Royal Bank of Canada from $141.00 to $143.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the biotechnology company’s stock.

LGND has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $135.00 to $147.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $125.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Benchmark lifted their price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from $110.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $145.33.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Trading Up 3.0 %

Ligand Pharmaceuticals stock opened at $116.91 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 46.58 and a beta of 1.01. Ligand Pharmaceuticals has a 12 month low of $65.84 and a 12 month high of $129.90. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $114.00 and its 200-day moving average is $102.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Ligand Pharmaceuticals news, COO Matthew E. Korenberg sold 9,772 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $101.22, for a total transaction of $989,121.84. Following the completion of 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 16.14 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Octavio Espinoza sold 1,275 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.94, for a total value of $132,523.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 24,610 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,557,963.40. This represents a 4.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,728 shares of company stock valued at $2,271,575 over the last quarter. 5.90% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LGND. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $339,000. Portside Wealth Group LLC acquired a new stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals in the second quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 4.9% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 8,500 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $716,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 20.1% during the second quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 10,847 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $914,000 after buying an additional 1,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 16.2% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 99,034 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $8,345,000 after acquiring an additional 13,839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.28% 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.