Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Sets New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $91.36 and last traded at $90.87, with a volume of 122736 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $88.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on LQDA. Wall Street Zen cut Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 27th. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Stephens set a $130.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price objective on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Liquidia currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.18.

Liquidia Stock Up 1.6%

The firm has a market cap of $7.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 645.00 and a beta of 0.58. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $74.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.72.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $119.44 million. The firm’s revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liquidia news, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total value of $60,220.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 216,438 shares in the company, valued at $18,944,818.14. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Sanjeev Khindri sold 1,185 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $84,739.35. Following the transaction, the insider owned 65,947 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,715,869.97. The trade was a 1.77% 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. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders have sold 2,175,754 shares of company stock worth $143,922,108 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Covestor Ltd increased 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 buying an additional 359 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Liquidia by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 6,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,000 after acquiring an additional 422 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its position in Liquidia by 3.6% during the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 17,165 shares of the company’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in Liquidia by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $405,000 after acquiring an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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).