Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Shares Up 7% After Analyst Upgrade

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA)’s share price traded up 7% during mid-day trading on Friday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $31.00 to $44.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Liquidia traded as high as $37.84 and last traded at $36.92. 585,783 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 2,108,976 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.52.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on LQDA. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. BTIG Research upped their price objective on Liquidia from $49.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Thursday. HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Liquidia from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Liquidia

In other news, insider Scott Moomaw sold 20,533 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $768,550.19. Following the transaction, the insider owned 154,514 shares in the company, valued at $5,783,459.02. This trade represents a 11.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Rajeev Saggar sold 21,142 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction on Monday, January 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.43, for a total transaction of $791,345.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 176,883 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,730.69. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 212,534 shares of company stock worth $7,964,719. 26.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Liquidia

Here are the key news stories impacting Liquidia this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HC Wainwright raised its price target to $55 and maintained a Buy rating, reflecting aggressive upside and materially higher longer?term EPS forecasts that support a higher valuation. HC Wainwright PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Needham and BTIG also bumped price targets (Needham to $54, BTIG to $50) and keep Buy ratings — consistent multi?broker upgrades amplify buying interest from growth/healthcare investors. Needham PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Company reported strong YUTREPIA® adoption: $148.3M FY2025 product sales, $90.1M in Q4, over 3,600 prescriptions and the second consecutive profitable quarter with $190.7M cash — fundamentals that support higher forward earnings expectations. Company Results & Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Quarterly EPS headlines are mixed: Liquidia reported $0.15 EPS (reported by the company), which beat some low-model estimates but missed a higher consensus ($0.33) cited by other services — this divergence produced intraday volatility as investors reconcile differing expectations. Earnings Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Shares gapped down in early trading after the earnings release amid headlines calling the quarter “weak” relative to some expectations — that initial sell?off pressured the stock despite the stronger underlying sales and cash metrics. Gap Down Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Notable insider and institutional selling has been reported (including a recent ~$5.1M manager sale), which may cap upside and concern short?term investors about supply pressure. Insider/Manager Sale

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Liquidia

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farallon Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Farallon Capital Management LLC now owns 8,656,038 shares of the company’s stock valued at $298,547,000 after acquiring an additional 90,400 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $138,439,000 after buying an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. raised its holdings in Liquidia by 9.5% in the 2nd quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after acquiring an additional 215,000 shares during the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,527,000 after purchasing an additional 151,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Liquidia in the third quarter valued at approximately $38,887,000. 64.54% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Liquidia Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -25.01, a PEG ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 6.19, a current ratio of 2.20 and a quick ratio of 1.96. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.07 and a 200 day moving average of $30.84.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, March 5th. The company reported $0.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.18). Liquidia had a negative net margin of 176.04% and a negative return on equity of 296.78%. The company had revenue of $92.02 million during the quarter. Liquidia’s revenue was up 3072.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Liquidia Corporation will post -1.51 EPS for the current year.

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).