Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Receives “Buy” Rating from BTIG Research

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by analysts at BTIG Research in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $49.00 price target on the stock. BTIG Research’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 38.11% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on LQDA. Wall Street Zen lowered Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $47.00 target price on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Monday, October 20th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $31.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on Liquidia from $36.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Liquidia currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.56.

Liquidia Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LQDA traded down $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $35.48. 163,492 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,941,798. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -24.64 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 1.96, a current ratio of 2.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19. Liquidia has a twelve month low of $11.26 and a twelve month high of $36.41. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.63.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.45) by $0.41. Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 296.78%. The business had revenue of $54.34 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $18.86 million. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1106.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Liquidia will post -1.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 71,381 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.00, for a total transaction of $1,927,287.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 176,549 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,766,823. This trade represents a 28.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Russell Schundler sold 1,072 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $32.19, for a total value of $34,507.68. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel directly owned 577,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,582,900.72. The trade was a 0.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 169,644 shares of company stock worth $4,500,450 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 26.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Farallon Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 102.1% in the third quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,565,638 shares of the company’s stock worth $194,783,000 after acquiring an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth $38,887,000. Caprock Group LLC purchased a new stake in Liquidia during the 3rd quarter worth $37,114,000. Tyro Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Liquidia in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,473,000. Finally, CenterBook Partners LP increased its holdings in Liquidia by 811.7% in the 2nd quarter. CenterBook Partners LP now owns 1,103,850 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,754,000 after purchasing an additional 982,778 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Company 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).