Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Rating Increased to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $106.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Friday, July 17th. HC Wainwright set a $36.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, Oppenheimer set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Liquidia in a report on Friday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Liquidia presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Performance

LQDA stock opened at $66.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $5.99 billion, a PE ratio of 48.82 and a beta of 0.53. Liquidia has a 12 month low of $21.15 and a 12 month high of $93.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $76.18 and its 200 day moving average is $60.71.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.76 by ($0.02). Liquidia had a return on equity of 149.65% and a net margin of 30.74%.The business had revenue of $171.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $168.48 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.49) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1842.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Liquidia will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liquidia news, insider Jason Adair sold 73,631 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 174,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,063,528.54. This trade represents a 29.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total value of $140,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 167,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,697,950.07. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 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 622,519 shares of company stock worth $48,078,514 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 18.7% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,287,792 shares of the company’s stock worth $86,341,000 after purchasing an additional 360,372 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at about $29,694,000. Eversept Partners LP boosted its stake in Liquidia by 33.0% during the first quarter. Eversept Partners LP now owns 677,392 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,565,000 after buying an additional 167,949 shares during the period. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Liquidia by 25.2% during the second quarter. Seven Fleet Capital Management LP now owns 256,603 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,459,000 after buying an additional 51,727 shares during the period. Finally, Pale Fire Capital SE increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 2.4% during the first quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 388,377 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,657,000 after acquiring an additional 8,985 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Company Profile

Liquidia Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing medicines for patients with serious cardiopulmonary conditions, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). The company is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, and serves healthcare providers and patients primarily in the United States.

Liquidia’s lead product is Yutrepia, an inhaled formulation of treprostinil designed for the treatment of PAH. The company has also developed treprostinil injection products and is pursuing additional therapies for rare cardiopulmonary diseases.