Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Shares Down 6.9% – Time to Sell?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price fell 6.9% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $72.40 and last traded at $72.5420. Approximately 250,864 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 1,826,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.93.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on LQDA shares. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. BTIG Research increased their target price on Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.88.

Liquidia Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 509.50 and a beta of 0.55.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In related news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.94, for a total value of $4,047,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 780,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $63,139,108.62. This represents a 6.02% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Sarah Krepp sold 24,880 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.28, for a total value of $1,748,566.40. Following the transaction, the insider owned 121,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,564,531.64. This trade represents a 16.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 2,095,867 shares of company stock valued at $128,914,130 in the last quarter. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 4.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company’s stock worth $556,000 after purchasing an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in Liquidia by 10.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,703,000 after purchasing an additional 82,955 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in Liquidia by 15.2% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,796,000 after buying an additional 16,022 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in Liquidia by 40.7% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $334,000 after buying an additional 7,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Liquidia by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 94,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after buying an additional 11,111 shares in the last quarter. 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).