Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Oppenheimer Analyst Says

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) had its price objective boosted by equities research analysts at Oppenheimer from $16.00 to $19.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “underperform” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer’s price target indicates a potential downside of 48.17% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on LQDA. BTIG Research increased their price objective on Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut Liquidia from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. HC Wainwright raised their price objective on Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, March 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $42.67.

Liquidia Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $36.66 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $37.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.26. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $11.26 and a 1-year high of $46.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -44.17 and a beta of 0.52.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $87.49 million. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 43.53% and a negative return on equity of 209.33%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3072.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Liquidia will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liquidia news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,580 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $65,807.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 178,848 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,449,019.20. The trade was a 0.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $28,655.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 211,169 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,795,188.85. This represents a 0.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 212,534 shares of company stock valued at $7,964,719. Insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in 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 period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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).