Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Saturday after Wall Street Zen upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The stock traded as high as $38.16 and last traded at $35.86, with a volume of 7982934 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.76.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on LQDA. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Liquidia from $36.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $47.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.56.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 7,839 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.41, for a total transaction of $183,510.99. Following the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 576,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,484,557.97. This represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 11,630 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, October 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.41, for a total transaction of $272,258.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 352,646 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,255,442.86. This represents a 3.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 169,644 shares of company stock valued at $4,500,450 in the last three months. Insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 1,700 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in Liquidia by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,703,000 after purchasing an additional 82,955 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Liquidia by 15.2% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 16,022 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Liquidia by 6.0% during the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 85,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,261,000 after purchasing an additional 4,811 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whitcomb & Hess Inc. grew its holdings in Liquidia by 30.6% in the second quarter. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. now owns 27,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 6,527 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Liquidia Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -24.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $25.07. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.41. The business had revenue of $54.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 296.78%. Liquidia’s quarterly revenue was up 1106.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Technologies, Inc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The company leverages its proprietary PRINT® (Particle Replication In Non-wetting Templates) platform to engineer precisely shaped and sized drug particles, with the goal of improving delivery, efficacy and safety profiles. By controlling particle characteristics at the nanoscale, Liquidia seeks to enhance respiratory and other therapies that depend on targeted delivery.

The company’s lead product candidate, LIQ861, is a dry powder formulation of treprostinil designed for inhalation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).