Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Trading Down 5.6% – What’s Next?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) fell 5.6% on Friday . The stock traded as low as $32.00 and last traded at $32.57. 213,386 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 965,785 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LQDA has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. HC Wainwright increased their price target on Liquidia from $35.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Finally, BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, December 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.56.

Liquidia Stock Down 9.7%

The firm has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -21.63 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 2.20, a quick ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $30.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $24.30.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.45) by $0.41. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 296.78%. The company had revenue of $54.34 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. Liquidia’s revenue for the quarter was up 1106.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post -1.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Liquidia news, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 7,839 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.41, for a total transaction of $183,510.99. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 576,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,484,557.97. This trade represents a 1.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 35,656 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.03, for a total value of $1,070,749.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 174,998 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,255,189.94. The trade was a 16.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 169,644 shares of company stock valued at $4,500,450. 26.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock valued at $194,783,000 after buying an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 10.2% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,961,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $90,078,000 after purchasing an additional 367,659 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,838,000 after purchasing an additional 215,000 shares in the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth $38,887,000. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new position in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter valued at about $37,114,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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).