UBS Group AG Sells 300,618 Shares of Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

UBS Group AG reduced its position in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 72.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 111,762 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300,618 shares during the period. UBS Group AG owned 0.13% of Liquidia worth $3,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LQDA. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Liquidia by 102.1% during the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,783,000 after buying an additional 4,326,876 shares during the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the third quarter worth about $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the third quarter worth about $37,114,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the third quarter worth about $12,571,000. Finally, Apis Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the third quarter worth about $9,569,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LQDA shares. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. Lifesci Capital upgraded shares of Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.33.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA opened at $60.98 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $5.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 435.60 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 2.03, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.24. Liquidia Corporation has a twelve month low of $11.85 and a twelve month high of $62.30.

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

Insider Transactions at Liquidia

In other news, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $14,183,709.84. This trade represents a 28.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 32,744 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.37, for a total transaction of $1,256,387.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,137,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,649,673.63. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 1,047,713 shares of company stock worth $46,156,003 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 25.60% 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).