Stephen Bloch Sells 148,301 Shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 148,301 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.76, for a total value of $9,603,972.76. Following the sale, the director owned 1,636,941 shares in the company, valued at $106,008,299.16. The trade was a 8.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Liquidia Trading Up 9.8%

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $71.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 511.68 and a beta of 0.58. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $49.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.67. Liquidia Corporation has a 52-week low of $11.85 and a 52-week high of $72.49. 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 posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LQDA has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen raised Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Lifesci Capital raised Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright upped their target price on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $60.29.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth approximately $37,114,000. Apis Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth approximately $9,569,000. Farallon Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 102.1% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,783,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326,876 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Liquidia by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,179,000 after purchasing an additional 24,555 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the third quarter worth approximately $1,536,000. 64.54% of the stock is 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).