Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.44.

Liquidia Trading Up 5.0%

Shares of LQDA opened at $42.14 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $36.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 2.01. Liquidia has a 52-week low of $11.85 and a 52-week high of $46.67. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -50.77 and a beta of 0.41.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.07. Liquidia had a negative return on equity of 209.33% and a negative net margin of 43.53%.The firm had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.49 million. The company’s revenue was up 3072.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Liquidia will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,576 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.78, for a total transaction of $59,541.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 175,342 shares in the company, valued at $6,624,420.76. The trade was a 0.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, 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 Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $28,655.20. Following the sale, the insider owned 214,738 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,943,837.70. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 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 a total of 578,820 shares of company stock valued at $22,746,258 over the last quarter. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,783,000 after acquiring an additional 4,326,876 shares during the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter worth $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter worth $37,114,000. MPM Bioimpact LLC grew its stake in shares of Liquidia by 600.4% during the fourth quarter. MPM Bioimpact LLC now owns 1,400,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $48,316,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200,869 shares during the period. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Liquidia during the third quarter worth $12,571,000. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).