Archer Investment Corp Takes Position in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Archer Investment Corp bought a new position in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,859 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Liquidia by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $298,547,000 after buying an additional 90,400 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,439,000 after acquiring an additional 52,671 shares during the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth about $38,887,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Liquidia

Here are the key news stories impacting Liquidia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary notes that Liquidia’s Yutrepia has had a strong commercial debut, suggesting early traction in its pulmonary arterial hypertension market opportunity. Can LQDA’s Yutrepia Drive Growth in the Competitive PAH Market?
• Neutral Sentiment: An investor letter from Laughing Water Capital mentioned Liquidia in a broader portfolio update, but did not provide a clear company-specific catalyst. Here’s Laughing Water Capital’s Updates on Liquidia Corp. (LQDA)
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple insiders, including the CEO, CFO, general counsel, and other executives, sold shares on July 13 in pre-arranged 10b5-1 transactions tied to tax withholding from vesting equity awards. While these sales were planned and not necessarily a bearish signal, the size and breadth of the sales may still pressure investor sentiment. SEC filing – Roger Jeffs sale

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total value of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 716,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,779,436.01. This represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,870,042 shares in the company, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. The trade was a 14.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,040,973 shares of company stock worth $130,344,087 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their target price on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.88.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Liquidia stock opened at $76.49 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $66.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. Liquidia Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $14.04 and a fifty-two week high of $82.96. The company has a market capitalization of $6.80 billion, a PE ratio of 546.40 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Liquidia 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).