Liquidia Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NASDAQ:LQDA)

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Traders purchased 14,263 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,292 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price 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 reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, June 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liquidia presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.62.

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 2,022,134 shares of company stock worth $129,579,224 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 90,400 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. grew its stake in Liquidia by 9.5% during the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,838,000 after buying an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Liquidia by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,341,000 after buying an additional 360,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC grew its stake in 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 buying an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liquidia Stock Performance

LQDA stock opened at $89.03 on Friday. Liquidia has a one year low of $16.82 and a one year high of $90.90. The firm has a market cap of $7.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 635.97 and a beta of 0.55. 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.82.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued 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 firm 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 business’s revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Liquidia will post 3.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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).