Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Trading 8% Higher – Should You Buy?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) shares shot up 8% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $76.59 and last traded at $76.9410. Approximately 667,338 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 64% from the average session volume of 1,831,887 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on LQDA shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, May 11th. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $68.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, June 4th. Finally, HC Wainwright increased their price target on shares of Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.88.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.08 and a 200-day moving average of $47.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 555.40 and a beta of 0.55.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $132.87 million for 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.91, for a total transaction of $12,782,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 716,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. The trade was a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of Liquidia 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. The trade was a 14.57% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,040,973 shares of company stock valued at $130,344,087 over the last 90 days. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of LQDA. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Liquidia by 63.6% during the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,179,000 after buying an additional 24,555 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,536,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 4th quarter valued at about $709,000. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 151,832 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% during 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 period. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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).