Insider Selling: Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Insider Sells $5,087,165.79 in Stock

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.09, for a total value of $5,087,165.79. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 174,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,063,528.54. The trade was a 29.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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.

Jason Adair also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, July 27th, Jason Adair sold 688 shares of Liquidia stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total value of $60,220.64.
• On Monday, July 13th, Jason Adair sold 7,863 shares of Liquidia stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $562,283.13.

Liquidia Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA opened at $69.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $6.26 billion, a PE ratio of 51.05 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $79.34 and a 200 day moving average of $57.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 2.31. Liquidia Corporation has a one year low of $21.15 and a one year high of $93.61.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $168.48 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.The business’s revenue was up 1842.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.49) earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in 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. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in Liquidia by 63.3% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 58,265 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,199,000 after acquiring an additional 22,592 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the fourth quarter valued at $709,000. Handelsbanken Fonder AB purchased a new stake in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at $1,993,000. Finally, WCG Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Liquidia by 98.2% in the fourth quarter. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,411 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 26,957 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on LQDA. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $130.00 target price on Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research raised their target price on Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Liquidia from $62.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price target on Liquidia in a research note on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

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).