Nordea Investment Management AB Boosts Stock Position in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND)

Posted by Defense World Staff on May 11th, 2023

Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Rating) by 5.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 73,873 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,933 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB owned 0.44% of Ligand Pharmaceuticals worth $4,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LGND. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 10.6% in the first quarter. Advisor Group Holdings Inc. now owns 1,341 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 54.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 8,617 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $969,000 after buying an additional 3,053 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 2.3% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 46,027 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $5,178,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.4% during the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 15,834 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $1,781,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Ligand Pharmaceuticals by 1.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 378,118 shares of the biotechnology company’s stock worth $42,537,000 after buying an additional 5,450 shares during the period. 87.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LGND opened at $77.59 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $73.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.31. Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has a 1 year low of $57.77 and a 1 year high of $109.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.08.

Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:LGND – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 4th. The biotechnology company reported $2.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $1.39. The business had revenue of $43.98 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.55 million. Ligand Pharmaceuticals had a return on equity of 3.44% and a net margin of 11.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated will post 2.11 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a research note on Tuesday, February 21st. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals in a report on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Ligand Pharmaceuticals from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Thursday, May 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $108.75.

Insider Activity at Ligand Pharmaceuticals

In related news, Director John W. Kozarich sold 6,408 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.56, for a total transaction of $490,596.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 42,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,231,827.28. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Ligand Pharmaceuticals

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Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company, which engages in the development and acquisition of technologies that help pharmaceutical companies to discover and develop medicines. Its products include evomela, IV voriconazole, duavee, viviant/conbriza, nexterone, and noxafil-IV. The company was founded by Ronald M.