Wells Fargo & Company Increases Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Price Target to $51.00

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) had its price objective upped by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $44.00 to $51.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 44.89% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on LQDA. Lifesci Capital raised Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Liquidia from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.44.

Liquidia Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $35.20 on Monday. Liquidia has a 52 week low of $11.26 and a 52 week high of $46.67. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -42.41 and a beta of 0.52.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $92.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.49 million. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 209.33% and a negative net margin of 43.53%.The business’s revenue was up 3072.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Liquidia will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 66,610 shares of the company’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 $2,493,212.30. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,037,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,834,673.04. This represents a 6.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,580 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total transaction of $65,807.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 178,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,449,019.20. This represents a 0.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 212,534 shares of company stock worth $7,964,719 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 30.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Liquidia by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 359 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after buying an additional 422 shares during the period. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 2.0% in the third quarter. Whitcomb & Hess Inc. now owns 28,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $645,000 after buying an additional 558 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the period. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).