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

UBS Group AG lessened its position in shares of Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 72.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 111,762 shares of the company’s stock after selling 300,618 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Liquidia were worth $3,855,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Liquidia by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 67,050 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,525,000 after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ bought a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Creative Planning increased its holdings in Liquidia by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,298 shares of the company’s stock worth $643,000 after acquiring an additional 1,458 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Liquidia by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 39,064 shares of the company’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 1,549 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LQDA. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. BTIG Research upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Liquidia from $16.00 to $19.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Liquidia has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.33.

Liquidia Price Performance

LQDA stock opened at $60.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 2.03. Liquidia Corporation has a one year low of $11.85 and a one year high of $62.30. The stock has a market cap of $5.42 billion, a PE ratio of 435.60 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.24.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping 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. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4187.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Liquidia news, CFO Michael Kaseta sold 139,390 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $14,183,709.84. The trade was a 28.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stephen M. Bloch sold 318,893 shares of the business’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 transaction, the director directly owned 1,870,042 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $93,932,209.66. This represents a 14.57% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 1,047,713 shares of company stock valued at $46,156,003 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia 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).