Steve Cohen loading up on Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. (LGND)
SAC Capital, headed by master trader Steve Cohen, has acquired 5.1 million shares of LGND as part of its recent activist investment strategy. This is interesting for two reasons. One, SAC Capital is using an activist investment approach, and two, because activist hedge fund Third Point had 5.7 million shares of LGND early last year (they still have about 2 million).
During that time, the company cut its workforce by 76 percent, replaced its managers, issued a large shareholder dividend, and sold its cancer drug division for $480 million.
The chart sucks, so they must not be using technical analysis – but I guess that wouldn’t be very activist hedge fund-like:
Maybe someone should start an activist hedge fund that focuses on acquiring a large position in a company and then making the chart look much nicer.
