Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Trading 14.9% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s stock price traded up 14.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $62.20 and last traded at $64.00. 779,911 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 53% from the average session volume of 1,666,701 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.69.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LQDA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, BTIG Research boosted their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Liquidia has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.63.

Liquidia Stock Down 1.1%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $39.56. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market cap of $5.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 441.82 and a beta of 0.58.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.41 by $0.11. Liquidia had a net margin of 7.74% and a return on equity of 46.82%. The firm had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $119.44 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $5,595,114.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 353,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,183,709.84. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,932,209.66. This trade represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 1,163,911 shares of company stock worth $53,115,021 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Liquidia

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. FNY Investment Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Liquidia in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 41.9% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 359 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

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).