Needham & Company LLC Reiterates “Buy” Rating for Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $25.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 60.67% from the stock’s previous close.

LQDA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer cut Liquidia from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $13.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Raymond James increased their target price on Liquidia from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $29.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.56.

Liquidia Stock Down 6.6%

Shares of LQDA stock opened at $15.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.55 and a beta of 0.24. The business’s fifty day moving average is $14.73 and its 200 day moving average is $13.54. Liquidia has a twelve month low of $8.26 and a twelve month high of $19.41.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported ($0.45) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.42) by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 163.21% and a negative net margin of 765.38%. Equities research analysts expect that Liquidia will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 5,964 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total value of $80,931.48. Following the transaction, the general counsel now owns 570,301 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,738,984.57. This represents a 1.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 14,130 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.57, for a total value of $191,744.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,006,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,657,119.40. This represents a 1.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,138 shares of company stock valued at $450,233 over the last ninety days. 26.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Liquidia by 855.3% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 235,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,354,000 after buying an additional 210,753 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth about $218,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Liquidia by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 428,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,040,000 after buying an additional 38,313 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Liquidia by 31.8% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 24,623 shares of the company’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 5,945 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Liquidia by 6.5% in the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 83,286 shares of the company’s stock worth $979,000 after buying an additional 5,048 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

About Liquidia

Liquidia Corporation, a biopharmaceutical company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes various products for unmet patient needs in the United States. Its lead product candidates include YUTREPIA, an inhaled dry powder formulation of treprostinil for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and pulmonary hypertension associated with interstitial lung disease (PH-ILD).