Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Price Target Raised to $19.00

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research note published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 7th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $31.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.67.

Liquidia Trading Down 2.4%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $36.66 on Thursday. Liquidia has a 1 year low of $11.26 and a 1 year high of $46.67. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $37.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.17 and a beta of 0.52.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 209.33% and a negative net margin of 43.53%.The company had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $87.49 million. Liquidia’s revenue for the quarter was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Liquidia will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In related news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 21,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total value of $791,345.06. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 176,883 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,730.69. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 27,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $1,021,427.27. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel directly owned 579,394 shares in the company, valued at $21,686,717.42. This represents a 4.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 212,534 shares of company stock worth $7,964,719. 26.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 4th quarter worth $3,148,000. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 428.3% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 420,621 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,507,000 after acquiring an additional 341,009 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter worth $1,214,000. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth $335,000. Finally, Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP purchased a new position in Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth $3,107,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).