Liquidia (NASDAQ:LQDA) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Liquidia Corporation (NASDAQ:LQDA) shares reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $62.37 and last traded at $61.9890, with a volume of 285703 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LQDA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $54.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Liquidia from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $51.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. BTIG Research boosted their target price on shares of Liquidia from $50.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Liquidia in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $50.88.

Liquidia Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 2.03 and a current ratio of 2.22. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $44.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.31. The company has a market cap of $5.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 439.13 and a beta of 0.41.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Roger Jeffs sold 32,744 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.37, for a total value of $1,256,387.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,137,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $43,649,673.63. The trade was a 2.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through 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 29,494 shares of Liquidia stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.13, for a total value of $1,773,474.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 38,755 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,330,338.15. This represents a 43.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,133,635 shares of company stock valued at $51,366,920. 25.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LQDA. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Liquidia by 4.7% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 37,681 shares of the company’s stock valued at $556,000 after buying an additional 1,700 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Liquidia by 10.7% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 861,231 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,703,000 after purchasing an additional 82,955 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Liquidia by 15.2% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 121,756 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,796,000 after purchasing an additional 16,022 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Liquidia by 40.7% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 26,840 shares of the company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 7,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in Liquidia by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 94,152 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 11,111 shares during the last quarter. 64.54% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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).