Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s What Happened

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $89.51 and last traded at $87.04, with a volume of 3394367 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $80.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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 price target on Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price objective (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Three 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Liquidia has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.88.

Liquidia Trading Up 7.6%

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 stock has a market capitalization of $7.74 billion, a PE ratio of 621.76 and a beta of 0.55. The business’s 50-day moving average is $70.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.42.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during 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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, Director Paul B. Manning sold 200,000 shares of the 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 transaction, the director directly owned 716,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,779,436.01. This trade represents a 21.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total value of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 sold a total of 2,022,134 shares of company stock valued at $129,579,224 in the last quarter. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in Liquidia during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 359 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 281.2% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hurley Capital LLC grew its holdings in Liquidia by 140.7% in the fourth quarter. Hurley Capital LLC now owns 5,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $179,000 after purchasing an additional 3,040 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).