Ligand (LGND) CFO Octavio Espinoza Sells 31,641 Shares

What Happened

• Octavio Espinoza, Chief Financial Officer of Ligand Pharmaceuticals (LGND), exercised multiple stock options on Aug 12, 2026 and sold 31,641 common shares in an open‑market transaction. The sale generated approximately $9,241,229 (weighted‑average price $292.06; per-footnote range $292.0098–$292.0846). The option exercises involved 16,179; 2,074; 2,869; 7,171; and 3,348 shares at exercise prices of $52.84, $70.04, $55.75, $57.22 and $68.74, respectively, with an aggregate cash cost of about $1,800,575 to exercise.

Key Details

• Transaction date: August 12, 2026. Form filed Aug 14, 2026 (appears timely within the two‑business‑day Form 4 filing window).
• Sale: 31,641 shares disposed in open market at a weighted‑average price of $292.06 (total ≈ $9,241,229). Price range for the trades: $292.0098–$292.0846 (F2).
• Exercises (reported as "M" for derivative exercise): total exercised shares = 16,179 + 2,074 + 2,869 + 7,171 + 3,348 = 31,641 shares; total exercise cost ≈ $1,800,575.
• Some derivative entries are reported as disposed at $0 to reflect conversion/exercise reporting conventions on Form 4.
• These transactions were made pursuant to a written Rule 10b5‑1 trading plan adopted May 13, 2026 (F1).
• Shares owned after the transactions are not specified in the provided excerpt of the filing.
• Vesting/option background: multiple option grants with varying vesting schedules are described in footnotes F3–F7.

Context

• This was essentially an exercise-and-sell sequence (options exercised then shares sold). That is often a routine liquidity event when executives exercise vested options under a pre‑arranged plan rather than an ad hoc market-timed trade.
• Transaction codes: M = exercise/conversion of derivative; S = sale. The 10b5‑1 plan footnote indicates the sales were pre‑scheduled, which limits inference about insider timing or sentiment.