Zacks Research Downgrades Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) to Strong Sell

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) was downgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

LQDA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler set a $129.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Friday, July 24th. BTIG Research raised their price objective on shares of Liquidia from $109.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $70.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Liquidia from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Liquidia Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LQDA opened at $67.49 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $61.42. Liquidia has a 1-year low of $21.15 and a 1-year high of $93.61. 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 firm has a market cap of $6.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.26 and a beta of 0.53.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The company reported $0.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by ($0.02). The firm 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 company’s revenue was up 1842.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.49) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Liquidia will post 2.57 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Liquidia

In related news, CAO Dana Boyle sold 1,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.53, for a total transaction of $140,048.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 167,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,697,950.07. This represents a 0.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 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. Also, Director Raman Singh sold 8,468 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.16, for a total transaction of $560,242.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 44,637 shares in the company, valued at $2,953,183.92. The trade was a 15.95% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 622,519 shares of company stock worth $48,078,514 over the last three months. Company insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Liquidia

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $335,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 5.4% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 17,627 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter valued at $177,000. Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the second quarter valued at $758,000. Finally, VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Liquidia in the second quarter valued at $1,236,000. 64.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.