Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch Sells 25,000 Shares of Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) Director Stephen Bloch sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.47, for a total transaction of $1,986,750.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 855,073 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $67,952,651.31. This represents a 2.84% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA traded up $0.28 during trading on Monday, hitting $79.21. 1,714,342 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,857,601. 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 company has a market cap of $7.04 billion, a PE ratio of 565.83 and a beta of 0.55. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.39. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.86 and a 1 year high of $80.98.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. The business 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 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 124.5% during the first quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 204,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,732,000 after buying an additional 113,609 shares during the last quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia during the 1st quarter valued at $2,111,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings 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 valued at $86,341,000 after acquiring an additional 360,372 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its position in Liquidia by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 72,438 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,734,000 after acquiring an additional 14,485 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the first quarter worth $3,650,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Bank of America reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $68.88.

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).