SG Americas Securities LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

SG Americas Securities LLC lowered its stake in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 37.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,088 shares of the company’s stock after selling 20,608 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $1,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,547,000 after buying an additional 90,400 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Liquidia by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,439,000 after acquiring an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. lifted its position in Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Liquidia by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after acquiring an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC acquired a new position in Liquidia in the third quarter valued at $38,887,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In other Liquidia news, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.23, for a total transaction of $16,017,995.39. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $93,932,209.66. This represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.14, for a total value of $5,595,114.60. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 353,356 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,183,709.84. The trade was a 28.29% 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. Insiders have sold 2,302,030 shares of company stock worth $132,996,894 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of Liquidia stock opened at $78.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company has a market capitalization of $7.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 563.83 and a beta of 0.55. Liquidia Corporation has a 1 year low of $11.86 and a 1 year high of $80.69. The company’s fifty day moving average is $60.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $45.31.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia’s revenue was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on LQDA shares. Oppenheimer set a $75.00 target price on Liquidia in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Bank of America reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $79.00 target price (up from $64.00) on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their price objective on Liquidia from $67.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.88.

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).