JW Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Liquidia Corporation $LQDA

JW Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,776 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,224 shares during the quarter. Liquidia accounts for approximately 1.1% of JW Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. JW Asset Management LLC owned 0.11% of Liquidia worth $3,441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. 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 valued at $194,783,000 after buying an additional 4,326,876 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,013,888 shares of the company’s stock valued at $138,439,000 after buying an additional 52,671 shares in the last quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.5% in the second quarter. Opaleye Management Inc. now owns 2,475,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,838,000 after buying an additional 215,000 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC increased its position in shares of Liquidia by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 1,783,921 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,527,000 after buying an additional 151,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCG Crossover Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Liquidia in the third quarter valued at $38,887,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.54% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LQDA. Zacks Research upgraded Liquidia from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Lifesci Capital upgraded Liquidia to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Liquidia news, insider Jason Adair sold 688 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.65, for a total value of $28,655.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 214,738 shares in the company, valued at $8,943,837.70. The trade was a 0.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 25,000 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.65, for a total value of $1,466,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,148,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $67,335,771.75. This trade represents a 2.13% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 1,047,713 shares of company stock worth $46,156,003 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 25.60% of the company’s stock.

Liquidia Trading Up 0.3%

Liquidia stock opened at $61.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 442.67 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.08. Liquidia Corporation has a 52 week low of $11.85 and a 52 week high of $62.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18.

Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, May 11th. The company reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $132.87 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $119.44 million. Liquidia had a return on equity of 46.82% and a net margin of 7.74%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4187.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Liquidia Corporation will post 2.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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).