Stephen Bloch Sells 242,269 Shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 242,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.43, for a total value of $17,063,005.67. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,176,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,838,639.12. The trade was a 17.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Liquidia Stock Down 0.6%

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $71.23 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a PE ratio of 508.82 and a beta of 0.58. Liquidia Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.85 and a 52-week high of $72.71. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $49.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.89.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.Liquidia’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on LQDA. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Needham & Company LLC increased their price objective on Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, May 11th. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $68.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.29.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Farallon Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Liquidia by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,547,000 after purchasing an additional 90,400 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Liquidia by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,439,000 after purchasing an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after purchasing an additional 215,000 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 360,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in Liquidia by 9.3% in 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 in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).