Investors Purchase High Volume of Put Options on Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) saw some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 22,447 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of 84% compared to the typical volume of 12,167 put options.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 66,610 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $2,493,212.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,037,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,834,673.04. This trade represents a 6.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $28,655.20. Following the transaction, the insider owned 211,169 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,795,188.85. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 216,820 shares of company stock worth $8,102,685 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in Liquidia by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,547,000 after buying an additional 90,400 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,439,000 after acquiring an additional 52,671 shares during the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC bought a new position in Liquidia during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,887,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LQDA. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $49.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of LQDA opened at $34.96 on Thursday. Liquidia has a fifty-two week low of $11.26 and a fifty-two week high of $46.67. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.04 billion, a PE ratio of -24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a current ratio of 2.20.

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).