Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and three have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.3333.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $55.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of Liquidia stock opened at $60.98 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 435.60 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day moving average is $42.53 and its 200 day moving average is $37.56. Liquidia has a twelve month low of $11.85 and a twelve month high of $62.30. 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 data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $132.87 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Liquidia will post 2.97 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 32,744 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.37, for a total transaction of $1,256,387.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,137,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,649,673.63. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,932,209.66. This trade represents a 14.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 1,047,713 shares of company stock worth $46,156,003 in the last 90 days. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in Liquidia by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its stake in Liquidia by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,165 shares of the company’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Liquidia during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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 worth $405,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the period. 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).