Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Receives $68.88 Average PT from Brokerages

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has assigned a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $68.8750.

LQDA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, June 4th.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $79.94 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $68.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.33. Liquidia has a twelve month low of $14.25 and a twelve month high of $82.96. The company has a market cap of $7.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 571.04 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The company had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Liquidia will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,870,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. This represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total transaction of $12,782,000.00. Following the sale, the director owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,022,134 shares of company stock valued at $129,579,224. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,887,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC lifted its holdings in Liquidia by 600.4% during the 4th quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $48,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,869 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Liquidia in the third quarter valued at about $12,571,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Liquidia by 18.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Liquidia by 428.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 420,621 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,507,000 after buying an additional 341,009 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Liquidia

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).