Espinoza Octavio 4

What Happened

• Octavio Espinoza, Chief Financial Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND), exercised stock options on March 4, 2026 (1,607 options at $58.49 and 466 options at $80.72), paying ~$131,609 to acquire 2,073 shares. The filing shows the immediate disposition of the related derivative interests (reported at $0).
• On the same day he sold a total of 13,423 shares in multiple open-market transactions at prices ranging roughly from $198.37 to $208.95 per share, generating aggregate proceeds of approximately $2.76 million.

Key Details

• Transaction date: March 4, 2026; Form 4 filed March 6, 2026 (timely).
• Option exercises: 1,607 @ $58.49 ($93,993) and 466 @ $80.72 ($37,616) — options are fully vested (footnote F13).
• Open-market sales: 13,423 shares in multiple trades, weighted-average prices reported per group; total proceeds ≈ $2,762,822. Footnotes F2–F12 provide the specific price ranges and note weighted-average pricing.
• Derivative dispositions: Two M-code entries for 1,607 and 466 shares reported at $0 (reflects disposition of the option/derivative instrument in the exercise process).
• Plan: Transactions were made pursuant to a written Rule 10b5-1 trading plan adopted November 19, 2025 (footnote F1).
• Shares owned after transaction: not specified in the supplied data.

Context

• This was an exercise of vested options followed by sales the same day (effectively a sell-after-exercise pattern). Because the sales were made under a pre-established 10b5-1 plan, they are scheduled trades rather than ad hoc sales.
• For retail investors: purchases (buys) can be a stronger bullish signal than sales; routine option exercises followed by sales are common for executives to cover exercise costs or diversify and do not necessarily indicate a change in view on the company.