Sapient Capital LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

Sapient Capital LLC reduced its position in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 25.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 37,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 12,600 shares during the period. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $1,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Liquidia by 63.6% in the fourth quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 63,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,179,000 after acquiring an additional 24,555 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at about $709,000. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Liquidia by 98.2% in the 4th quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,411 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 26,957 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Liquidia by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,439,000 after purchasing an additional 52,671 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in Liquidia by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares in the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on LQDA. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, May 11th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BTIG Research lifted their price target on shares of Liquidia from $59.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 price target (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.18.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $83.85 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $17.82 and a 1 year high of $91.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.46 billion, a PE ratio of 598.97 and a beta of 0.58. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $74.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.38.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The company had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In related news, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total transaction of $60,220.64. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 216,438 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,944,818.14. This trade represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 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 transaction of $140,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 167,919 shares in the company, valued at $14,697,950.07. This trade represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 2,175,754 shares of company stock valued at $143,922,108 in the last three months. 25.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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).